Rogue Squadron: Bane of the Empire
by NedeserThul
Summary: After a devastating loss on the ice world of Hoth, the Rogues are down to half their numbers. Luke Skywalker is nowhere to be found and it is left to his best friend Wedge to lead the fighter squadron.
1. Prologue

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

Wedge Antilles gazed at the other Rogues - the ones that had survived the battle of Hoth at any rate. They were in strung out shape, having lost numerous pilots and gunners. Among them, five had been members of Rogue Squadron since before the expansion of the unit for the purpose of defending Echo Base. Zev Senesca, Kit Valent, Dak Ralter, Vekozev Kabir and Stax Mullawny were dead and Luke Skywalker, the Squadron's commanding officer had disappeared to parts unknown without a word or explanation. Now the Alliance was on the run again, with the majority of their fleet hiding inside nebula and back-rocket star systems and Rogue Squadron was all but leaderless. Wes Jansen looked to Wedge and said, "Well, what now, Wedge? Where did Luke go? What are we going to do?"

Wedge hated the fact that he didn't have any answers. Miserably, he shrugged and was about to respond when Agent Winter Retrac of Alliance Intelligence came in. "General Rieeken wants you to gather in one of the conference rooms off the hanger."

Even Winter, known for her ability to remain perfectly stoic and apathetic, seemed to be depressed. Slowly, all the Rogues stood and headed towards the conference room. As they walked, Wedge fell back beside Kasan Moore. Kasan had been Luke's less-than-secret girlfriend. Her eyes were red rimmed and her face was pinched. "How are you doing, Kasan?"

"I'm doing fine, Wedge; just exhausted and worried about Luke. I don't suppose he sent you anything before he disappeared."

Wedge shook his head. "I'm sorry. No. I was going to ask you the same thing."

Kasan's eyes filled with anger and she said, "Of course he didn't. Why would he? I'm only his girlfriend and the one who I thought he shared everything with. Why would he share such a minuscule detail like where he's just going to vanish to after a major engagement that we lost tons of equipment and hundreds of personnel during?"

She sounded close to tears again and Wedge squeezed her hand. "Hey, hey! I know how you feel, trust me. Next time I see him, I am going to absolutely wreck his sorry butt for this boneheaded, insensitive, thoughtless action. But we're making an assumption. He may have been captured on the way out of the Hoth system. We don't know and, in the mean time, we need to get our heads on straight."

Kasan wanted to snap at him that she knew that and that it was easy for him to say but she also knew that those comments wouldn't help. Not only that, they would be utterly irrational. Wedge had been Luke's Executive Officer since day one. He cared about the stupid farm boy every bit as much as Kasan did if not exactly in the same way.

When they entered the conference room, Generals Rieeken and Madine looked like they were at least a decade older apiece. The Rogues all sat down and Rieeken rubbed his temples and sighed, "I know we're in rough shape, Rogues. Commander Skywalker has disappeared and could be captured. We aren't sure and are sending out intelligence feelers to try and ascertain any intelligence on him. We lost another five pilots during the defense of the evacuation. You all have my condolences on your loses but we can't take the time to grieve or mourn. There is still work to do. As soon as all transports and units check in, we're going to start looking for names to fill your roster back out. I know that seems cold but we need our best squadron to be operating and peak efficiency. Any questions, Rogues?"

None were forthcoming. They all knew the single question and the answer and after a moment of silence, their suppositions were confirmed. General Rieeken cleared his throat and said, "In the absence of Commander Skywalker, it has become necessary to promote new leadership. Captain Antilles, you are being promoted to the rank of Commander until such a time as Skywalker has returned and his status has been assessed. Lieutenant Celchu, you are being promoted to the rank of Captain and are taking over as executive officer. Do I have any objections?"

Of course, no one objected. If they had been giving the choice, Wedge and Tycho would have been recommended as the most logical choices. They were the best as pilots and leaders and could handle it better than any of the other pilots. General Rieeken nodded. "Good. Get some rest, schedule some simulator time and stay sharp. Before you know it, we'll have you back to work and we'll need you ready."

They all stood and started to file out of the room after the Generals left. Wedge gently caught Winter's arm. "Can you hang back for a second, Winter?"

She seemed to be expecting this and waited until they were the only ones in the room. "I don't suppose you've heard from Luke, have you?"

Winter's mostly stoic expression fell ever so noticeably and she shook her head. "I'm afraid not Wedge."

"Can you keep me appraised with any information you get? I'm worried sick about him."

It would be a breach in protocol and operational security but she slowly nodded. "Yes, I can. Right now, all we know is that he made it to lightspeed but it was in a totally different direction than we had expected. We haven't heard from him since."

Wedge frowned. "So he wasn't captured on the way out of the system. That's good. We don't know anything from there then?"

Winter shook her head. Wedge rubbed his temples and said, "Well thank you, Winter. I appreciate it."

He turned to walk away but only made it a few steps before Winter called, "Commander Antilles;"

Wedge turned and saw that her face was both serious and determined. "I know that you are worried about Luke and I am to but we still have a war to fight and win. It is both your and my mission to forge ahead and continue to fight the Empire in despite of that. It's what Commander Skywalker would expect of us - to put our concern for him in the cargo hold and focus on what he thought was important."

Wedge nodded. "And that is what we'll do."

Winter gave a ghost of a smile before she turned and headed towards the command room. Wedge turned back and began to think hard, asking who Luke may have told his plans to. The only people who made sense were Princess Leia, Han Solo and Dak Ralter. They were the only people he had extended contact with after being pulled from his bacta tank and plopped into his air speeder's cockpit. Dak was dead and the thought tugged hard at Wedge's heart. The youngest member of the squadron had been like everyone's younger brother, always pulling pranks but one hell of a gunner and a great pilot in his own right. As for Captain Solo and Princess Leia, no one could seem to find them either. They knew that the _Millennium Falcon_ had made it out but they did not know where they had gotten to. No one had seen them jump to lightspeed. When Wedge reached the pilot ready room that the Rogues occupied, he cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. "Alright, Rogues, we still have a war to fight and you all know that there is no way that Luke or the others would want us to mope. We can mourn, sure, but we need to honor their memories and their wishes. There's still an Empire to bring down."

He hoped he sounded more confident and upbeat than he felt and it seemed to work. One at a time, the lounging pilots stood and Tycho said, "Well what's first on the agenda - _Boss_?"

Wedge couldn't help but grin at that. "We freshen up on our starfighter piloting. It'll be back to the greatest ship ever made - the X-wing starfighter. Let's grab dinner and then it's to the sims. You rusty excuses for bush pilots need to get back in the swing."

They all chuckled and headed towards the mess. When Wedge saw that even Kasan was smiling a little, he decided that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.


	2. Chapter 1: Mission to the Maw

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

Wedge and his five remaining pilots were leaving the sims when Agent Retrac found them. "Report to the briefing room, pilots. There is a possible mission ahead."

They all followed her at a run, piling in behind the intel agent. General Rieeken's eyes widened slightly. "That was quick. Well done, Agent Retrac. Listen up, Rogues. We just received some new intel that suggests that there might be a prison facility in the Maw and, if there is, it's more than probable that some prisoners from Hoth went there considering the number of successful raids on the Kessel prisons. We are going to send three X-wing's and three Y-wings. If it's found out that there is a facility, you will scout around and report back. Any questions?"

"What if we do find that there are rebel prisoners?" asked Wedge.

Rieeken gave him a very stern glare. "You will report back and wait for instructions. That's it, Rogues. Any other questions?"

There were no forthcoming questions and the general said, "Alright, go get a meal and get out there. We're counting on you."

Rieeken departed and Wedge looked at his pilots. "Alright, Rogue group, let's go eat and get ready."

They were less than enthusiastic as they headed towards the mess. Hoth had taken some of the wind out of their sails, as it were. Wedge watched them go on ahead of him and sighed. He needed to find a way to bring their spirits back up. "Wedge, a moment, please;" said Winter from behind him.

Wedge slowed his pace and they waited for the Rogues to get further ahead. "What's up, Winter?"

"I'm just checking on you, Wedge. Is everything okay? Your squadron is definitely dispirited."

Wedge scowled. "We just suffered at least five losses, possibly even six and a crushing defeat - the first since our foundation after Yavin. Our first in three years as a matter of fact! We need a mission to come back from. This scouting mission is just making us feel like we're being put on the back burner. Makes me wonder if Command has lost confidence in us and that's not fair."

Winter took his hand and squeezed it. "They are still confident in you, Wedge. I promise they are. But you are at half strength and we are all still reeling from the loss of Echo Base. They are taking things carefully and slow and that's what we need right now. You can understand that."

Wedge blew out a breath and said, "Yeah, I guess. Join us for dinner?"

"Of course."

* * *

 **Asteroid Field just outside of the Maw**

"Alright, Rogue group, angle all deflectors forward. We're going to take this nice and slow. No need to do anything crazy;" said Wedge from the cockpit his one-man BTL-A4 Y-Wing. His pilots readily complied as they just cruised between the floating rocks, their electronic and visual scanning on full. For almost two hours, they continued, not seeing anything but drifting rocks. Just as Wedge was about to order a return to base, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and his heart started to beat just a little faster. To confirm that he wasn't going crazy, Tycho excitedly said, "Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Four, I have seven Imperial tankers and one Imperial Lambda shuttle point one-one-five!"

"I see them, Rogue Four. Alright, one quick sweep, nice and easy, boys and girl."

As they approached, their scopes suddenly lit up with enemy ships. "I have fighters coming in, Rogue Leader;" called Rogue Eleven.

"Alright, Rogues Four, Six and Eleven, keep them off our backs while I go in for a closer look. I can see one really big asteroid but it looks like there might be something between us and it."

While the X-wing's engaged the TIE's the three Y-wings continued forward, picking up their pace just enough without being reckless. It quickly became very clear what was between them and the massive asteroid. It was a linked shield system, hundreds of mines and dozens of automated turbolaser drones. The drones fired in predetermined patterns which were fairly easy to avoid and the Rogues just blasted any mines that were too close. "Alright, switch to ion cannons and target the shield couplings. Pick your targets."

In a quick, one-two-three, the Y-wings fired their ion cannons and knocked out a section of the barrier shield. As they flew through, it became clear that the rumor was quite true. The large asteroid had a large facility of some kind and, judging by the towers, rail systems, search lights and the patrolling groups of specially upgraded AT-PT's, it was a large prison. Wedge immediately powered up his long-range communications unit. "General Rieeken, this is Wedge. We have eyes on the prison."

"Great job, Rogues! Return to _Home One_ and we'll put a rescue operation together."

Wedge was about to turn about when the emergency frequency. "Attention! If anyone can hear me, this is Rebel Alliance pilot Karie Neth and I've organized a prison break! We need help! Is anyone out there?"

Wedge was shocked for just a moment before sputtering, "Karie Neth, this is Rogue Leader, what is your current position?"

Over their private channel, Tycho said, "Wedge, we have our orders."

"They changed when our fellow rebels are attempting to escape right now! If we don't help them, there's every chance they'll just be executed."

Over the emergency comms, Neth said, "We're heading for the hover train but if we don't take out those guard towers, they'll just destroy the train and kills us."

"We're on it. We'll clear a path for you as best as we can;" said Wedge firmly. "X-wings, keep the TIE's off of us. We're going for the towers."

Using proton torpedoes, they leveled the towers and they used their laser cannons to take out some of the patrolling AT-PT's. "We're clear for the moment, Rogues and we're heading for the armory right now."

"We'll have those towers clear for you too;" said Wedge.

The space above was getting a little to busy for his like. Several TIE fighter squadrons were trying to bring them down but the X-wings kept them busy. Even so, Wedge was forced to clean one or two off of one of his fellow Y-wing pilots. The towers quickly began to target the rebel fighters instead which was both a relief and an added stress. "X-wings, target their comms and sensors array;" snapped Wedge, cursing himself for not thinking about it earlier. "We'll be fine until you're done."

"We have weapons, Rogue Leader;" called Neth. "Heading towards the docking port. There should be a Sentinel-class shuttle there. We just need the skies clear and a way out."

Wedge gritted his teeth, determined to be successful in this mission. More and more towers went up in flames. Clusters of pod walkers were floating space debris as the train pulled up next to the docking area where a shuttle was perched. "We're boarding the shuttle now, commander. How are the skies looking?"

"Crowded;" said Wedge as he rolled ponderously in his heavy fighter, attempting to avoid the two fighters on his tail. "Even so, I'd blast off and go. Make sure you evenly distribute the power between shield and engines."

The shuttle was even slower than the Y-wings and a dozen TIE's broke off and angled towards the escapees. Severally were destroyed by the shuttle's weapons but the others were taken out by the X-wings. As they reached the energy shield barrier, the Y-wings used their ion cannons to open up and larger gap between the couplings. TIE's were still in hot pursuit. The X-wings and Y-wings were out of torpedoes. "Damn, I wish Luke was here;" muttered Wedge.

Luke could use the force to improve his senses and shred fighters without his targeting computer. His ability to maneuver due to his strength in the mysterious force would allow him to pull off unbelievable, borderline stupid, feats. The rest of the Rogues were bound by their not inconsiderable skill.

The shuttle was making it through the field, cutting dangerously close to asteroids and squeezing between them just before they collided. Wedge paid just enough attention to acknowledge that, whoever the pilot was, they had great skills, operating the shuttle like they would a fighter and yet, knowing the shuttle and understanding it well enough to be able to avoid destruction. "Wedge, the TIE's are turning back!" called Kasan, relief evident in her voice.

Wedge noticed she was right and sighed with relief. His comms chimed on a common Alliance channel. "Thanks for the assist, Commander. We would have been dead on that rock without you."

"It was our pleasure. Are you flying that thing, Neth?"

"Yeah that's me;" replied the leader. "I was shuttle a freighter pilot before I was captured at Hoth."

"Well you sure seem to know your way around a stick. How would you like to try out for Rogue Squadron?" asked Wedge.

The reply was quick in coming. "Absolutely! I've missed being in a starfighter."

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

As Wedge stood before the members of High Command, he concluded that his invitation for Karie Neth to join may have been a tad premature. When this was over, there was every chance he may no longer be in command or even in a fighter's cockpit. Since High Command was scattered after Hoth, most of them were holographic representations. Somehow, though, it didn't make them any less intimidating. Mon Mothma remained silent as a scowling General Rieeken spoke. "Commander Antilles, what were your orders on the mission to the Maw?"

Wedge cleared his dry throat and replied, "My mission was to scout out the area and report back before returning to the _Home One._ "

"And you did that, right up until I gave you the order to return. What happened after that, Commander?"

"Rogue Squadron was contacted on the emergency line by a large group of rebel prisoners from Hoth and before. They were in trouble, Sir and if we hadn't jumped in to help, they would have been dead in space. Any reason to launch a rescue would have died with them."

General Rieeken considered. "We'll be debriefing the prisoner you were in communication with. Don't go too far because you still have some questions to answer."

Wedge saluted and headed out to the hall way. There stood a young woman in Alliance military khakis, lieutenant bars on her lapels. "So, Lieutenant Karie Neth, I presume." he said with a grin.

She smiled and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you in person, Commander Antilles. What's the word?"

"I'm not demoted yet but I'm guessing they'll be calling you in next."

Karie chuckled. "Then I'll put in a good word for you. It's the least I can do."

"I'm not really worried about it;" said Wedge with a shrug. "Considering the situation, and the things Luke and I used to do while he was the commanding officer, this is nothing but a rebel officer exercising his initiative."

"I sure hope so;" she replied. She was going to say more when the droid opened and Rieeken called, "Enter, Lieutenant Neth."

"Alright, wish me luck;" she said and headed in.

Wedge chuckled. That lady didn't need luck. He had a feeling she would do just fine. Now all he needed was a mission to present itself so that he could test her fighter piloting metal.


	3. Chapter 2: Raid at Bakura

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

Wedge was extremely pleased. The rescue from the Maw had not only brought the Rogues' confidence back up, it had also gained him several new pilots. Aside from Karie Neth, another human female named Somac Farr and a human male named Nala Hetsime had shown that they were up the standards at least in the simulators. He watched as they all lounged in the ready room, drinking caf, playing cards and waiting for the call that was inevitable. As he watched, Tycho came up to him. "How's it going, Boss?"

Wedge chuckled. "Oh I'm alright. Glad to see that things are looking up again."

"Most of the guys are just glad that there are a couple more females in the squadron now. I think when Luke gets back, he's going to be proud of you, Wedge."

Wedge nodded slowly. He often thought of his Jedi friend and asked himself some questions. When Luke got back, whenever that was, what would happen to Rogue Squadron? Who would command? Who would leave? Would it even be an issue?

In the end, Wedge pushed that all to the side. When Luke returned, then they would work that out. Just then, Winter came in and all eyes turned to here. "Head to the briefing room, Rogues. We have another rescue mission for you."

The Rogues leaped to their feet and eagerly followed her.

General Rieeken smiled as they hustled in and sat down. "Good morning, Rogue Squadron. We have another rescue mission. Several groups of rebels, including some of our science officers, are being transferred from a prison station over Bakura to Coruscant so that they can be interrogated by Isard. You are going to intercept them just as they depart the station - three X-wings, three A-wings and three of the new B-wings. The B-wings were tested just before Hoth and approved for fielding by Commander Skywalker and Lieutenant Keyan Farlander of Blue Squadron. The B-wings will disable the Imperial Prison transports with their ion cannons while the A-wings engage enemy fighters. The X-wings will assist the A-wings until our transport drops into the system. The X-wings will then escort the transports to safety. The B-wings will engage any heavy fighters or larger ships when and if the need arises. I would jump in the sims for a couple hours to familiarize yourself with the B-wings until we get there. We'll be stopping a short five minute jump from Bakura itself. From there, the fighters and transports will launch. Are there any question?"

None were forthcoming and General Rieeken closed down his datapad. "Make us proud, Rogue Squadron. Get ready for trouble and do what you can to avoid getting too close to the prison station. Our intelligence reports say that they will be bristling with turbolasers."

With that, he and Winter departed. All eyes fell on Wedge and Tycho. "So;" asked Wes Janson, his tone completely casual, "who's going to get to fly the B-wings with you two?"

"Not sure;" Wedge said as he stood and stretched. "We'll have to see. Either Hobbie, you or maybe Kasan. I guess we'll have to see."

They all began to head towards the simulator bay. To the surprise of the others, Kasan shook her head. "Not me! I'm one of the better A-wing pilots. I'll be in one of those."

Wedge nodded. "Sounds good. What do you two think?" he asked, pointing to Wes and Hobbie. "Which of you wants to try a B-wing? Hobbie, you technically have seniority."

"Why don't we wait and see who does better?" asked the older pilot. "If Wes does better in the sims, he should definitely fly."

"What about the rest of us?" piped up Karie. "It's only logical that we all have a try, isn't it?"

Wedge and Tycho chuckled. "I'm afraid that isn't how it works, Rookies." said the former. "You have to start with baby steps. For example, our bread and butter is the X-wing. That's where you three newbies with start. Myself, Tycho and one of our other senior pilots will take the fun new ships and the last three will fly the A-wings."

Karie seemed to pout just slightly. "But we've already been flying for the Alliance - some of us have flown starfighters."

"Not with us, you haven't;" said Kasan cheerfully, "Don't worry! You'll get your chance."

* * *

Wedge enjoyed decided quickly that he liked these B-wings almost as much as his X-wing and certainly more than either the Y-wing or A-wing. If the sims were as accurate as they usually were, these newly fielded fighters would have twice as many torpedoes in their magazines as the X-wings did and were almost as fast and maneuverable. To add to their diversity, they also had ion cannons and, unlike most fighters, ejected the entire cockpit rather than just the pilot seat. At first glance, he had expected it to be awkward and unwieldy but, to his surprise, it was anything but.

When a voice came over the intercom announcing the immanent drop out of hypserspace, he climbed out of the simulator. Hobbie was smiling and Wes looked sullen. "I take it that Hobbie's flying the third B-wing?" asked Wedge in amusement.

"Yeah;" said Wes, sounding so forlorn that Wedge had to laugh. "Cheer up, Buddy. There's always next time."

To their surprise, Karie chuckled and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Cheer up, Kiddo! We're about to go on a mission and save people from an Imperial prison. I don't care too much what I'm flying so long as I'm flying for the Alliance and as a Rogue."

Despite his best effort, Wes smiled and said, "You do have a point."

In the hanger, the fighters were armed, fueled and being ran through preflight diagnostics. "You'll launch as soon as the ship is out of lightspeed;" said the deck officer, a female Mon Calamari. "May the force be with you, Rogue Squadron."

They mounted up and powered up, waiting for the alarm that signaled launch. When it came, they smoothly and systematically exited, forming up out in the vacuum of space. "Alright, Rogues, make the calculation for Bakura and jump on my mark;" said Wedge.

Short little five minute jumps were tricky if they didn't know the precise coordinates. Luckily, intelligence had given them the exact coordinates. When his timer hit zero, Wedge said, "Jump!" and pushed the lever forward.

Right as the timer hit zero, he pulled the lever back and there was the planet Bakura. Orbiting it, just inside the nearest star's light, was the space station prison. As command had said, the thing was bristling with turbo lasers. From one of the docking bridges, an Imperial heavy transport was already detaching itself and making for space. "Alright, Rogues - let's engage;" said Wedge. "B-wings, switch from laser cannons to ion cannons. X-wings, fly escort and A-wings, engage and destroy all incoming fighters."

He only half listened to the acknowledgements as he switched his weapons selection and angled his fighter towards the transport. It was driving as fast and hard as it could towards space. Thinking ahead, Wedge contacted the transport waiting on his word to jump to lightspeed. "Transport One, this is Rogue Leader - make the jump and we'll have the transport disabled and readied."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader - making the jump now."

Even as the transport cut contact, Wedge and his wingmen fired their ion cannons. Within a few minutes and only three passes, the Imperial transport was dead in space. "Alright Rogues, let's keep our eyes out for our transport and, when it gets here, keep the TIE's off of it."

It was only slightly easier said than done. The first group was slashed through by the three A-wings and the X-wings picked off the survivors. For the most part, Wedge, Tycho and Wes buzzed around the Imperial heavy transport. With a flicker of pseudo-motion, the rebel transport dropped into system. "Transport One, this is Rogue Leader - we're off to your port side."

"We see you, Rogue Leader and we're making out approach;" came the reply. The captain sounded nervous, not that Wedge blamed him. They were barely out of turbo laser range from the station and another pair of TIE squadrons were moving in - one of them making for the rebel transport.

Bringing his fighter around, Wedge ordered, "Rogue Two, Rogue Five, switch from ion cannons to laser cannons. We're going to engage those fighters. Switch all shields to double front and stay close."

They acknowledged and the three Rogues engaged. The TIE's were seemingly taken by surprise, not expecting three odd looking fighters to blaze right for them. They broke off in four man flight groups, each doggedly pursued by a Rogue. Wedge kept one eye on the transport as he blew one TIE after another to component atoms. The exchange didn't take long and it was no time before the transport captain commed. "Rogue Leader, this is Transport One - we've made out pick up and are making our get away."

"Copy that, Transport One. Hobbie, take your X-wings and make sure that Transport one can make the jump."

The older, dower pilot acknowledged and his X-wings quickly took up positions. The B-wings immediately went after the TIE's pursuing them. "This is too easy and I don't like it, Rogue Leader;" said Tycho.

Wedge was inclined to agree. "Maybe the station commander assumed that he could take us on his own. There are only nine of us and we know what opinion the average high ranking Imperial has of us puny rebels. Whatever the case, stay vigilant. No need to get cocky and make a mistake."

"When have I ever done that?" asked the Tycho dryly. He had a point. Tycho was the most cautious and careful pilot.

Wedge chuckled as the transport contacted him. "We're all clear, Rogue Squadron."

"Copy, Transport One."

Just then, Wedge noticed the two more of the Imperial transports had come free of the station and were making a break for it. "Tycho, get the near one and I'll take the far one!" he snapped. "Wes, just keep the TIE's off our backs."

He switched over. "This is Rogue Leader to Transports Two and Three, make your jump and we'll have those transports ready for you."

Since it was only one each of them firing on the heavy transports, it took a great deal more time. Wedge focused on the sublight engines, pounding away at them as much as he could. Suddenly, Wes gave a fascinated hasp. "Woah! Hey boss, hold the trigger and wait for the chime!"

Frowning, Wedge did and a concentrated beam of ion energy slammed into the transport and is drifted dead in space. It wasn't a moment too soon either. Rebel transports Two and Three dropped out and made their way towards the Imperials. "X-wings, take Transport Two. We'll take Transport Three. A-wings, slash through as many TIE's as you can before they get to the transports."

The two rebel transports were firmly clamped to the two Imperial transports. It was less than ten minutes before they both called completion. "Alright, Rogues;" said Wedge. "Let's get back to- _WOAH_!"

Out of hyperspace came a pair of Imperial Ships - Escort Carriers no larger than Corellian Corvettes. They were fast and their turbo lasers began pounding one of the transports. At the same time, from racks on the underside, a squadron of strange and unfamiliar TIE fighters were launched. They were fast - as fast as a TIE Interceptor and they had at least light shielding. "Get the transports out of here!" snapped Wedge as he fired two proton torpedoes at one of the carriers. Twin streams of flames erupted from the impact areas but it seemed to only have small effect on the ship. One of the rebel transports made the jump but the other was being pounded by the Escort Carriers.

"Kasan, get your flight group out of here!" snapped Wedge. "Tycho, Wes - with me, we need to get those carriers off that transport."

Six proton torpedoes slammed into the escort carrier, forcing it to back off but it was too late. The rebel transport was dead in space, its engines dead. The strange TIE's were swarming it, blasting at it with Ion cannons. "Oh great;" muttered Wedge, "another advanced TIE with ion cannons."

Just then, Hobbie came over the comms. "Wedge, my fighter's damaged and the ejection mechanism is inoperable! I'm going for a crash landing on the planet below."

"Woah, Hobbie! Are your shields still operable? You could burn up!"

"My shields are good, Rogue Leader;" assured Hobbie, "but my hyperdrive and sublight engines are vaped and my life supports are going fast."

Wedge gritted his teeth. His B-wing wouldn't be able to hold both of them. He needed another ship. Changing his comms frequency to the _Home One's_ frequency, he said, " _Home One_ , this is Rogue Leader - one of my pilots are crash-landing on Bakura. I need a pick up for him."

There was a long pause before General Rieeken came on the comms. "I'm sorry, Wedge but we can't send an extraction. If you find a way to get him off Bakura and back into open space, we'll send the _Redemption_ to pick you up."

Wedge gritted his teeth. "Roger, General. I'll figure something out;" and he cut connection.

"Rogue Squadron, get out of here. I need to go pick up Hobbie."

Looking around desperately searching for a way to save his friend when he saw a squadron of TIE bombers on docking racks and hatches on a lower part of the station. With a growl, he went to the nearest vacant docking port. "Sorry about your new fighter;" he growled, "but it's better than the alternative."

He primed a thermal detonator and climbed out, dropping the sphere where he had been sitting before climbing through the docking hatch and hitting the emergency release. The B-wing floated away before exploding. Drawing his blaster, he ran along the corridor and dropped into a TIE bomber, detaching immediately and streaking towards the planet below. Activating the bomber's comms, he said, "Hobbie, this is Wedge; I'm coming your way in a TIE bomber. Just hold tight."

"Alright but make it quick, Wedge. There are TIE Strikers and Reapers looking for me right now."

Wedge frowned and reviewed his weapons board. "This bomber doesn't have lasers?" he murmured to himself. That wasn't normal. TIE bombers were usually given laser cannons and a warhead magazine and tube. This one had to have been especially modified. The laser cannons had been removed and in their place, seeker missile launchers had been installed. "Well this is going to be tricky;" Wedge murmured as he streaked towards Hobbie's homing beacon.

Wedge quickly found himself flying over one of the planet's mountain ranges. Laced throughout it were Imperial defensive towers, missile platforms and various radar, sensor and comms arrays. The towers and platforms, he demolished with concussion missiles and proton bombs. Suddenly, Hobbie commed him. "They found me! It's now or never, Rogue Leader!"

Wedge pushed the TIE for all it was worth and rounded a bend in the gorge as a TIE Reaper - a transport more than a fighter - began to lower towards the floor of the gorge. Wedge activated his targeting computer and was pleasantly surprised when the Reaper and its three TIE Striker escort ships were acquired as targets. When he squeezed the trigger, four missiles, one after the other, fired and streaked towards the Imperial ships. The Strikers were annihilated but the Reaper teetered and fell to the ground. Wedge could see Hobbie running away from his wrecked X-wing and the wrecked TIE Reaper as fast as he could. As he lowered the bomber to pick up his fellow rebel pilot, the X-wing exploded.

Hobbie was running up a spur and Wedge managed to bring the TIE alongside it so that the older pilot could jump onto it and scrambled over to the hatch. "Thanks, Boss;" he said as he dropped into the gunner seat. "but how are we going to get back to the _Home One_? This thing isn't hyperdrive capable."

"As soon as we get out of orbit, we'll comm the base ship and they'll send the _Redemption_ to pick us up."

Immediately, they began to have problems. The bomber was out of concussion rockets and proton bombs, leaving it completely unarmed. "Great;" muttered Hobbie, "you picked a junky ship without armor or shields. Just a couple hits and we're dead. I hope you're good at this."

Wedge didn't answer. They made it all the way out of atmosphere without being assailed. It made sense since most of the fighters had been used to fight the rebels during their rescue operation. Both pilots breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the Escort Carriers and advanced TIE Fighters were gone. Their relief was short lived when they saw the shattered remains of the third rebel transport. Grimly, Wedge powered up the bomber's long range comms. "Redemption, this is Rogue Leader and Rogue Five - we need an extraction."

The reply was a long time in coming but finally, a female voice, which sounded permanently worried, replied, "We're jumping right now to your location. Stand by."

With a sigh, Wedge brought the fighter around to take a closer look at the transport wreckage. It was clear that the ship had been disabled and boarded before being crippled and left to drift. "They must have taken the prisoners;" murmured Hobbie.

Wedge nodded solemnly. "But where did they take them?"

Neither of them knew the answer to that one. Suddenly, there alarms went off and turning, they saw a quartet of TIE's streaking towards them. "Time to go;" muttered Wedge and threw all power into the engines. Of course, there was no chance of them out distancing the fighters. TIE bombers, especially this particular variation, required escorts to survive in combat. Wedge and Hobbie had no such escorts. Just as it looked like they were about to be overtaken, the Nebulon-B Frigate Redemption dropped into real space. The TIE's broke off and the two Rogues in the TIE bomber breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe.

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

General Rieeken smiled at the Rogues. "Well done, Rogue Squadron;" he said. "Once again, you prove your ability to adapt to ever changing circumstances."

Wedge lifted a hand. "Do we know where they went, General?"

"We think we might have an idea but Intelligence is working on it right now. In the mean time well done. Oh! And Princess Leia and Commander Skywalker have returned. You should go se them as soon as you can. Any other question?"

Of course, none were forthcoming. The news that Luke and Leia were back had all the Rogues anxious to get out and go see them. Only one question was asked, "Where is the commander?" asked Kasan.

"He'll be in the medical bay. Apparently he was injured over the past weeks;" said Rieeken after consulting his datapad.

The Rogues fidgeted and waited. After a long moment, Rieeken nodded and said, "Alright, dismissed, Rogues."

Eagerly, they pelted to the med center. Sitting on the edge of hospital bed was Luke Skywalker, looking at his right hand and flexing it reflexively. "Luke!" said Wedge.

Looking up, Luke grinned and stood. Wedge gave him a huge bare-hug as did the other five remaining members of the pre-Hoth Rogue Squadron. Kasan gave him a massive kiss, nearly tackling him back onto the bed. Suddenly, Wedge looked angry and said, "Where the hell did you disappear to anyway?"

Suddenly, Luke looked very sheepish. "I left Hoth and headed to..." and he paused, choosing his words carefully, "... a location I'd rather not mention right now. I was able to continue my Jedi training."

Silence followed the statement. Wedge looked coldly at him. "And you didn't send anyone a message because... why?"

"Communications didn't work on this particular world. My intent was to send a message as soon as I landed but that wasn't an option;" explained Luke.

Wedge, Wes and Hobbie nodded, not looking very happy but clearly accepting of his explanation. To everyone's surprise, Kasan was livid. "You just took off on your own;" she said, her eyes blinking rapidly and her throat obviously tight. "you didn't bother telling anyone where you planned to go. You've been missing since the battle of Hoth and we didn't know whether you had been captured or-" and her voice broke.

Luke contemplated trying to hug her but instead lifted his hands. "I didn't have a choice, Kasan. I had to and have to keep this location a secret. It's for the greater good in the long run. Even High command understands."

"Well I don't;" said Kasan. "You could have at least told me your plan - told us your plan. I haven't slept well in weeks and when I did sleep, I always had nightmares of learning that you were dead or worse. Do you have any idea-" with one long step, she got in his face and slapped him hard across the cheek. The other Rogues gasped as Kasan turned and stormed out of the medical bay, wiping her eyes frantically as she did.


	4. Chapter 3: Mission to Geonosis

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

Luke and Wedge sat silently over a game of holo chess. "She still isn't talking to you?" asked Wedge.

Luke shook his head. "No. I think- I'm afraid- I don't know, Wedge;" and they were both silent before Luke leaned back. "I don't blame Kasan. I could have left a message or something but everything was happening so fast and I didn't expect-"

Wedge just grunted. "I get what you're saying, Luke but she isn't going to buy it."

"I know, but I-"

Just then, Kasan came in and walked right up to them. "I need to talk to you, Luke;" she said calmly.

Luke met Wedge's eyes and slowly stood. His friend gave him a sympathetic look and deactivated the holo chess table. Luke followed Kasan into one of the side storage rooms. As she turned to him, Luke expected another tirade and a break up but, instead, got a huge kiss. Kasan was moving against him hard, moaning into the kiss. Finally, they separated, and she began to work at his clothing. "Woah!" said Luke, "Woah, Kasan, what's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked breathlessly.

"Because I've been back for days and have continually been unloading more and more bad news, like not rejoining Rogue Squadron and having to be gone a whole lot more and you haven't wanted to talk to me. I was sure that when you did, it would be to tell me that we were done. Then suddenly, you come into the lounge, pull me to the side and start trying to rip my clothes off. I just want to be sure we're actually okay."

Kasan smiled seductively and said, "I thought I was making that evident;" but there was something there. Her eyes were still sad and there was something in her presence that made Luke weary. "Are you sure?" he asked slowly, "I get the feeling you aren't telling me something."

Kasan was frozen for a long moment before slumping. "Look, Luke, I'm still angry and I'm still hurting but right now, I really need you. It's been so long and I've missed you so much. Please..." she begged him.

Luke nodded but lifted his hands when she was about to jump him. "Your quarters, Kasan, not a greasy custodians closet."

* * *

Wedge had a big cup of fresh caf in his hands as he headed towards the lounge when his comlink chimed. "This is Commander Antilles."

"Commander, grab five of your pilots and come to the briefing room. We may have a line on where the Escort Carriers are;" said General Rieeken.

Wedge acknowledged and began contacting his people. He was about to contact Kasan but, since it wasn't going to be the whole squadron, he thought that perhaps grabbing someone who was more focused and less emotionally messed up would probably be better. Instead, he elected for one of the newer pilots.

When they were all gathered, Rieeken hurried through the briefing. "We just received word via intelligence that the Escort Carrier group has been sending transmissions from orbit over Geonosis. Apparently, they are awaiting a rendezvous there. If we can get there and cut them off before the prison barge or transport arrives, we can rescue the prisoners."

Wedge frowned. "How are we going to do that? The Escort Carriers tend to be assigned to the Imperial Storm Commando units. We'll need more than a half a dozen fighters."

"The escort frigate _Redemption_ will be there as well a medium transport. The transport will carry a strike team of Paige's commandos who will board the escort carrier and rescue the captives. Rogue Squadron will destroy the escort carrier that doesn't have prisoners and will disable the weapons on the prison ship. They will also provide cover from any TIE's and the like. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one;" said Wes Jansen and all of the members of Rogue Squadron glared at him but he ignored them.

General Rieeken nodded to him indulgently. Clearing his throat, Wes asked, "I would like to know why it is that we are constantly rescuing scientists and what not and never attractive female beings;" everyone groaned as he continued, trying to sound as serious as possible. "I'm sure that somewhere, maybe Nul Hutta or Nar Shadda, there are groups of gorgeous female beings just waiting to be rescued by dashing and handsome starfighter pilots."

Karie Neth flung a crumpled wad of flimsy at him. With a soft _smack,_ it bounced off the side of his head. General Rieeken seemed to be hiding a smile as he gathered his data discs. "If intelligence finds a large group of attractive females in need of rescuing, Rogue Squadron will be the first to know. However, if they are expecting dashing and handsome fighter pilots, the ones who see you will most likely be disappointed."

There was a short length of stunned silence as the general and Winter left. The white haired intelligence agent shot a tiny grin at the Rogues as she exited. Snorts and snickers were heard until Wes asked, "Did General Rieeken just burn me?"

"Yes;" laughed Wedge, slapping the younger pilot on the back of the head, "yes he did and he did it with styles. Come on, Rogues, let's gear up, load up and get out there."

* * *

 **Geonosis - The Asteroid Belt**

Six X-wings, a Nebulan-B Escort Frigate and a GR-75 Medium Transport dropped out of hyperspace and ducked into the asteroid belt. They went slowly and carefully, deflectors on full power and their best gunners occasionally blasting any asteroids too big or that were moving too fast. Even the medium transports were using their highly limited weapons and were close enough to the Nebulan-B to overlap their shields. The X-wings buzzed around, occasionally blasting some of the larger asteroids and such as they searched the area for the Imperial ships.

Wedge had just managed to shatter one of the drifting rocks when his comlinks chimed. "Rogue Leader, this is the _Redemption_ \- we have just picked up Imperial ships on our scopes. As expected, two Imperial escort carriers and two squadrons of TIE fighters."

"Acknowledged, _Redemption_ ;" said Wedge and he switched to Rogue Squadron's comms frequency. "Alright Rogues, I want Hobbie with me; we'll go after the carriers, using our torpedoes to drop their shields and our laser cannons to disable their weapons. The one that doesn't have prisoners, we'll destroy. The rest of you, break into pairs and engage those fighters. Stay close to the _Redemption_ so that their guns can cover you and you can cover their blind spots."

As he spoke, the TIE's split up, some making for the transport, some making for the frigate. It was one of the escort carriers that tried to go after the fighters, their swiveling turbolaser batteries firing at the X-wings with nerve racking accuracy.

Wedge and Hobbie had used several large asteroids for cover, swooping around them for their torpedo runs. The fighters' torpedoes managed to overload the shield generator and cause it to shut down. The X-wing's laser cannons eliminated the turbo lasers. It had been a quick thing and now, the _Redemption_ was pounding away at the defenseless carrier with one of its turbo laser batteries but in the end, it would most likely be the asteroids that would be its destruction as it tried to maneuver. Wedge and Hobbie turned towards the carrier that had stayed out of the fight. It's turbo lasers tracked them and it was all that the two fighter aces could do to avoid being shredded by either the asteroids or the turbo lasers. Again, the asteroids made great cover but the carrier blasted them, trying to destroy them so that the two Rogues couldn't use them. However, all that did was open up the weapons to destruction. As the carrier's shields fell, Wedge's comlink pinged, "Rogue Leader, this is the Redemption; the ship you are attacking right now is not the prison ship. You may destroy it at your leisure."

"Copy that;" replied Wedge before switching to the Rogues' frequency. "Hobbie, just received confirmation. We're going to finish this one off. Empty your torpedoes into it."

"Copy that, Rogue Leader."

They went on one more run, firing their last torpedoes. The explosion was spectacular but just a little too energetic. A large chunk of super heated metal embedded itself into the fuselage of Wedge's X-wing, taking out the stabilizer and making steering extremely problematic. Wedge did the best he could to make it to empty space between the asteroid belt and the orange-red planet below. Ejecting while still in the asteroid field would be too dangerous. If he found himself in the path of an asteroid, the minimal maneuvering thrusters wouldn't be able to get him out of the way. "Rogues, I'm hit!" he said into his comms as he gripped the stick like it was a lifeline. "I'm making for open space between the belt and the planet. Finish your mission and pick me up."

As soon as he was safely out of the belt, Wedge yanked the ejection lever - and found himself stuck in the cockpit of the X-wing and heading fast towards the planet. "Blast;" he said, "blast! Rogues, my seat is jammed. I'm heading to the planet below and I get steer away from it. My repulsers are working but my stabilizers and thrusters are shot."

"What about your shields?" asked Tycho anxiously.

"They'll hold just enough, Rogue Four. I'll try to land near a big land mark, that way, when this is all over, you'll have a point of origin to work from."

They acknowledged and Wedge threw all of his focus into maintaining a modicum of control over his crippled craft. The shields were beginning to flicker against the air friction but they held. Wedge could feel his cheek muscles spasm painfully but ignored it as he managed to bring the nose of the X-wing to almost horizontal. The repulsers were managing to slow the fall and control it but the stabilizers made it difficult to keep it that way. Seeing a derelict ship, an ancient Trade Federation core ship, he tried to angle towards it and just barely managing to. "Rogues, I'm heading towards the wreck of an old Lukrhulk-class core ship. You can begin your search from there and I'll tray to make it easier to find me."

"Rogue Leader, we picked up four escape pods from the escort carrier you destroyed. They all landed in your area. Be very careful and find a safe place to hole up."

Wedge didn't have the chance to respond as he tried to extend his landing gear. The struts extended but all that succeeded in doing was to have the ripped off. He slid along the red sand and stone until he slid to a stop amidst a cluster of rocks.

Wedge breathed a sigh of relief and disconnected his crash webbing harness. "Are you doing okay, R5?"

To his surprise, the droid whistled, though it sounded morose.

"Glad to hear it;" groaned Wedge as he forced open the cockpit canopy.

He stood and hopped out. To his surprise, getting to the cargo compartment wasn't too bad and his astro droid rolled down a pile of dirt to join him. "Well, let's find a place to hole up, Are-five. "

He filled his pockets with ration bars, hydration bladders and spare blaster powerpacks. The last thing he grabbed was a DH-17 Blaster Rifle. Sliding a power pack into place, Wedge grunted. "Alright, we should be ready to go. Let's find a cave or something. Can you still transmit the distress signal?"

The droid whistled an affirmative and they headed out. As they traveled, the silence seemed eerie. Wedge knew that there weren't likely any natives to worry about. A vast percentage of the Geonosians were enslaved and taken to various projects of the Empire. Suddenly his droid whistled. Wedge glanced at the droid. Are-five had whistled that he had picked up what was likely an Imperial escape pod. "You sure about that, buddy?"

Another affirmative whistle. "Well then we should probably-"

Rapid fire blaster fire cut off his comment. Frowning, Wedge looked down at Are-five. "You picking anything up from that?"

Whistles.

"Battle droids? As in Imperial droids like those Dark Troopers we were warned about or-" but his droid cut him off with more, very anxious tweets and beeps.

"You're kidding! I gotta see this."

He hustled up a rise, his droid quietly protesting. At the top of the rise, Wedge saw that his unit had been right. Three Imperial Storm commandos were kneeling and unloading their blaster rifles on at least two dozen old Trade Federation B1 battle droids. By sheer wait of numbers there was no way that the commandos were surviving but they managed to reduce the old B1's numbers to less than ten. "Wow!" murmured Wedge. "Those things must be over twenty years old."

The droid moaned. The droids seemed to be examining the battle zone. Four Imperial Storm commandos in black armor and armed with advanced weapons lay dead on the ground. Suddenly, one of the droids spotted Wedge. "Intruder detected!" said the officer droid, "engage and destroy."

Wedge aimed and fired, dropping three of the droids before they could even get a shot off. Their programming must have seriously eroded because they were slow moving. The sheer number of destroyed droids in the area of the escape pod showed how badly they were corroded. When they were close enough that their accuracy was improving, Wedge shimmied backwards down the hill and propped himself on a rock, waiting. As the last droids appeared, he blasted them. "Well that was actually a little fun;" he murmured. "Let's go, Are-five."

That was the first of several meet ups with TF battle droids and they were all initiated with the droids attacking survivors at escape pods. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no caves or overhangs to hide in but his Are-five unit seemed to be drawn towards something. "What are you doing, Are-five? What are we heading towards?"

The droid whistled and beeped as it hurried towards some point. "Wait, slow down, you rusty waste bin;" said Wedge, getting quite exasperated. "Are you saying there's a ship nearby?"

More whistles as the droid rolled up another rise of red dirt and stones. Near the apex of the hill, the droids stopped and shuffled forward on its two struts. Noticing his droid's cautiously advance, Wedge dropped to his belly and crawled up the hill. There were at least six Storm commandos holding off a small army of droids. Wedge watched in fascination as the six Imperials managed to destroy at least forty droids and only lose half their numbers. Behind them, Wedge could see something nestled under the cliff, an arrowhead shaped object about the size of an A-wing starfighter, perhaps just a little smaller. "Well it's three highly trained Imperial commandos against you and me, Are-five. What do you think?"

The droid whistled and beep and Wedge didn't like the answer to say the least. "I didn't actually want to know the statistical odds, Are-five! Stars above, can you be any more depressing?"

Suddenly, there was a low whirring noise and from another direction came an old and outdated LAAT gunship. Wedge watched for a long moment before it landed and the three remaining storm commandos loaded up. Wedge couldn't hear what they said but it was clear that they were glad to be getting off the planet. As soon as they had taken off, Wedge slung his blaster rifle and ran over to the tiny ship. "Wow..." he murmured. He knew what the ship was. "A Delta-7 Aethersprite Light interceptor! This is a Jedi starfighter. Hey, do you think we can get it working again?"

The droid was somehow able to crawl into the ships droid socket and fiddle with some part of it or another, beeping, whistling and tweeting the whole time. Wedge was good at binary but it was complicated, even for him. "Slow down what are you- Ah! Nice work, Are-five!"

The ship's lights began to glow and then, with a rough purr, it came to life. The droid seemed to fiddle with it a little more and the rough purr smoothed and evened out until it sounded more or less in good condition. The repulsers lifted it gently off the ground and onto its landing struts and Wedge jumped in. "Woah!" he murmured, "this is so retro! Alright, Are-five, let's see if you can walk me through how to- oh Blast!"

The LAAT gunship was on its way back. "Forget walking me through, buddy! Let's get up and get out!"

The droid whistled frantically and Wedge fellowed each direction as the droid said it. Within moments, they had taken off. "Okay so the good news is that these controls are really similar to an A-wing. Alright, tell me about this thing's weapons."

The droid whistled and beeped and Wedge nodded, "Alright, power up the laser cannons and shields."

More whistles and Wedge blanched. "No shields! The old Jedi were crazy! Alright well, we still don't have a choice. Put a little more juice to the repulsers and thrusters."

A little more juice was almost too much! The Jedi starfighter could put out more speed than an A-wing. "Those old wizards had to have flown with the force. Okay Are-five, reduce the power to the engines and put all excess to the guns. I'm going to turn us about."

Wedge turned towards the oncoming LAAT, spinning and avoiding the oncoming laser cannons and even the seeker missiles. Squeezing the trigger, he sent a flurry of blasts across the dorsal haul of the gunship. Smoke began to pour from it and it began to sink groundward. "That got 'em!" said Wedge. "Alright, up to the sky. We'll see how the battle is going."

When they got up there, Wedge was chagrined to see that another pair of escort carriers had dropped out of lightspeed and one of them apparently had brought TIE Bomber squadrons. The bombers were on a bombing run approach to the escort frigate. "Alright, Are-five;" said Wedge, "what else does this thing have?"

The droid suddenly began to beep excitedly. "It has what?" he gasped. "Those are highly illegal and were back then. Man! War must have really changed the Jedi. Alright, we're going to fire one, just one, right between the two carriers. On my mark, release the seismic charge. Ready?"

The droid waited as Wedge blazed between the two carriers, their turbolasers unable to even track him. "NOW!"

Almost fifty meters behind them, the charge was released and went off, sending a massive energy shock wave. It blew through the enemy carriers' shields and hauls, ripping them in half completely. The Redemption seemed to be attempting to get clear of the field so that it and its escort and the transport could escape but the bombers were still baring down on it - that is until the shockwave of the seismic charge caught the rear of the bomber formation and managed to shred a full half of a squadron.

Seeing the sheer destructive power of the weapons, Wedge felt just a little sick to his stomach. Whipping around, he reduced his speed and opened on the rear of the TIE bombers' formation, blasting one after another out of the sky. The rest broke off and tried to flee and Wedge didn't pursue them. "Rogue Leader, what the hells are you flying?"

That was Karie Neth, obviously. Wedge grinned and replied, "This is a Delta-7 Aethersprite Jedi Starfighter, Rogue Eight. Maybe when we get back, I'll let you fly it. Now this thing doesn't have an onboard hyperdrive- wait- what was that, Are-five?"

The droid whistled and something showed up on his scope. "Oh, I got you!" said Wedge. "Hey Rogues, I'll rendezvous with you all back at the fleet. Apparently, this old thing uses an external hyperdrive unit of some kind."

The others chuckled but Wedge would bet money that they were all secretly jealous of him. Laughing to himself, he found the odd looking ring and hooked up to it. "Alright, Are-five, make the calculations and take us home."

With a couple whistles and beeps, the stars turned to star lines and the star lines, to the blue tunnel of hyperspace. As he leaned back in the seat, Wedge sighed. It had been a mission well done and now, they had rescued a large number of the Alliance's best scientists and fighters. It was only a matter of time before they would be able to take the fight to the Empire again like they had at the first Death Star or with Moff Seerdon. Wedge only hoped that it would be soon.


	5. Chapter 4: Destrillion Corridors

Wedge watched as one of his pilots zoomed around in their new toy - the Jedi starfighter he had picked up on Geonosis. "Commander;" said a voice from behind him. Wedge turned and saw Kasan Moor standing there with a datapad.

Wedge frowned. "What do you have there, Kasan?"

Kasan chewed her lip before saying, "This is a transfer request. Mon Mothma asked me to be one of her personal advisers on board the Independence and I think I'm going to take the position."

Wedge nodded, a hundred questions buzzing through his mind. In the end, he smiled and said, "I understand. It was great serving with you, Kasan. We'll miss you."

Kasan took the datapad back from him and hugged him. "My shuttle leaves in a few ours, Wedge. I need to pack. I'll be around to say goodbye to the Rogues."

Wedge looked her in her eyes. "You need to say goodbye to Luke too."

It was no secret that the two were no longer together. Kasan cleared her throat and said, "I will."

After the door had slid shut, Wedge turned back to the viewport and watched the Delta-7 zip by again. He didn't remember whether it was Hobbie, Karie or Wes in the fight now but he was glad they were having fun. "Commander."

Wedge turned and saw Winter standing there. "What can I do for you, Agent Retrac?"

"We have a mission for you. It's only going to be a quick one, hopefully. In truth, it's a scouting mission."

"Alright;" said Wedge, "what am I scouting, Winter?"

Winter motioned towards the door. "Best to hear from General Rieeken, sir."

Wedge nodded and they headed towards the briefing room.

General Rieeken gave him a brisk nod. "We don't have much right now, Wedge. Truth is, there is a new Tibanna Gas processing facility in the energy corridors of Destrillion. All we need from you is confirmation, sensor and scanner readings. Don't engage unless you have to - and I mean that, Commander Antilles."

Wedge couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on, General! It's me."

"Exactly;" growled Rieeken. "You'll be using an RZ-1 A-wing. It's missile magazines will be filled with seeker concussion missiles. Go fast, get good scans and be very careful. Three hours behind you, we will have a trio of MC80 Star Cruisers and four squadrons, one of which will be one-man Y-wings. They'll be moving through the area and going by Dubrillion before another hyperspace jump. They'll be heading to reinforce and resupply one of our fleets. You'll join them later to refuel before your A-wing and then return here."

"Of course, Sir."

Twenty minutes later found Wedge striding towards the A-wing waiting for him. As he did, the Delta-7 Jedi Starfighter come in and landed. Out jumped Tycho. "We got a mission, sir, or are you taking a turn?"

Wedge chuckled, "I just have a quick scouting run to deal with. It shouldn't be too dangerous. You guys have fun, but you had better not crash my new toy."

"You got it, sir;" said Wes Janson as he hopped in the cockpit of the Jedi Starfighter.

Wedge chuckled and hopped in the A-wing. With a few quick switch flips, he was powered up. The diagnostic was quick and he took the fighter out. Within minutes after that, he was in hyperspace.

* * *

As Wedge dropped out of hyperspace, the twin worlds of Destrillion and Dubrillion half-shined in the distance. The sun was off to starboard, partially illuminating the two globes. The planet in the fore-space was Destrillion, a dirty looking ball with wispy yellow-brown clouds. Destrillion was a turbulent world with little to nothing going for it. What it did have were a series of energy tunnels that went through it that allowed convoys to go through it, helping avoid an asteroid field.

Beyond Destrillion was the blue, green and brown twin, Dubrillion. It was a moderate world with a north and south pull and vast oceans. It was a prosperous world.

Wedge angled towards the world in the fore-space, his fighter's long range scanner searching for the massive energy signature of the energy tunnel that went through the turbulent atmosphere and above the barren, uninhabitable world below. He was still a decent distance away from the planet when his scanners pinged. "Well, how about that. How is that thing being powered, I wonder?"

He streaked towards the planet and prepared to enter the atmosphere - only to find that there gravity level was near non-existent - just enough to cause the storms to stay within the atmosphere. "Geez!" he muttered, "what is with this planet?"

The entrance to the energy tunnel was wide open in front of him and he went right in. Suddenly, it felt like he was in space again and Wedge cursed as he corrected his instruments. There must have been anti-gravity generators in the energy ring links.

The tunnel was long and Wedge was forced to slow way down to avoid smashing into the energy barriers surrounding him. To make things even more difficult, the energy fields completely scrambled his sensors and scanners. "Son of a-, of all the blasted-" and Wedge cursed over and over, getting more and more anxious as he went.

His scanners didn't work and he was forced to fly by sight and sight alone. It was a breath of relief when it seemed like a massive cavern in the energy tunnel opened. The energy fields still surrounded him but they were kilometers to either side. The scanners even cleared enough to inform him and show him that he was surrounded by energy with two entrances/exits. It also revealed that there was a large tibanna gas tank platform and about twenty-four TIE fighters and they weren't the regular ones. They had the standard eye-ball shaped cockpit capsule but instead of the oblong hexagonal solar panels, they had four, pointed panels that went forward to points. They were faster than the standard TIE, as fast as a TIE Interceptor. Instantly, four of them pealed off their course and moved to engage. "Oh boy;" muttered Wedge as he switched to his missile tubes.

His standard targeting computer changed from the standard rebel starfighter targeting screen to a screen that identified the TIEs. To Wedge's pleasant surprise, the computer beeped four times and all four of the targets lit up with a locking signal. "Well how about that?"

He pulled the trigger and four missiles fired in rapid succession. The four fighters exploded. This time, eight more pealed off. "Okay well that trick worked once. I doubt it will work again if I use it like that."

Instead, Wedge angled his flight and sped up to attack speed. Instead of going for the eight fighters approaching him, he gunned four the other twelve in reserve. He targeted another four with his missiles and tried to blaze away with his laser cannons. Though it didn't surprise him, it did annoy him when his blasts splashed off of shields. "Of course! Why not add shields?"

Even so, another four were down. Lasers splashed his own and he spun out of the line of fire, checking the status. His shields, which were already pretty weak when compared to other Alliance starfighters, were down to sixty percent. He needed some kind of cover and all there was for him was the gas platform. Tibanna gas, when not in the carbon frozen form, was highly combustible. "This could quite literally blow up in my face. GAH! I really need to stop talking to myself!"

As he approached, he locked on to one of the tanks. Tilting his fighter, he managed to squeeze between two tanks without even scratching the tanks. Just as he got through, he fired one of his missiles. With a spin, he was clear. The missile circled around and slammed into the tank. Six of the eight pursuing fighters were caught up in the explosion. Wedge bore down on one and blazed away at the two others. One went up in flames before they realized Wedge was there. The other tried to bank but didn't realize it was too close to the energy barrier and slammed right into it. Wedge managed to pull away, skidding very lightly off the barrier. "Too close, too close, TOO CLOSE!" said Wedge anxiously.

The last eight TIE's were moving to engage and Wedge smiled. Switching to missiles, he targeted them and fired every single missile in his internal magazines. As expected, the TIE's tried to fire on a few of them before spinning away, releasing countermeasures as they did. Wedge pick one and fired at it. The fighter was unable to avoid the missile and Wedge's laser and it went up in flames. Two more somehow managed to collide, exploding. The missiles did manage to catch up to another two of them but the others were still ahead of their missiles. Three TIE Hunters were firing at him, one of them using ion cannons.

Wedge decided to target that one. Trying a trick that Luke had taught him, he gunned his portside engine and gunned his starboard reverse thruster. It caused him to spin around before he cut both off and fired by sight, not even using his targeting computer. In truth, he only wanted to scatter them but he did manage to drop one of the fighters' shields before it spun away. Gunning his engines again, he shot after it and fired even before his computer locked.

The TIE went up in flames. Two were left. Both made for one of the energy tunnels, attempting to escape and, quite probably, warn their comrades. Wedge chased after them, hoping that they would lead him to this Imperial tibanna processing Installation. One of them went just a little too fast and started to bounce like a shock ball off the sides of the tunnel before it took too much damage and exploded. Wedge followed the other, waiting for his sketchy targeting systems to ping. It did just as the tunnel widened and there was an exit ahead. Wedge blew away the final TIE and headed towards the exit. Then he saw them, a massive Imperial transport convoy. There were heavy transports, light cruisers, bulk freighters and, of course, a TIE escort. "Okay;" said Wedge and put power to scanners and engines.

Faster than he had ever pushed it, he scanned every single ship. They never even got a shot off. Wedge grinned and activated his long range comms unit. "General Rieeken, this is Wedge Antilles; I have the scans. And preparing to rendezvous with the Alliance group."

It took a moment before Rieeken came back. "Good work, Rogue Leader. Sending you the coordinates now."

"Copy that, heading there now."

He spun towards the coordinates provided when his comms flashed on an Alliance frequency he didn't recognize. "This is Rogue Leader to unknown Alliance ship, do you need help?"

"Rogue Leader, this is the Alliance Cruiser _Ultima:_ we need assistance! We're in orbit over Dubrillion now and being fired on by an Imperial weapon. It seems to work much like the Death Star super laser - a concentrated beam of energy. Sir, it cut through our shields and sliced off a chunk of out ship. We need your support!"

Wedge cursed and replied, " _Ultima,_ this is Rogue Leader - I'm alone out here but, if you have a Y-wing ready for me, I'll gladly lend a hand."

"We'll have it fueled and ready for you, Rogue Leader - and thank you."

Wedge cut the comms. "Oh this just keeps getting better and better;" he growled before keying Rieeken's frequency again. The general was not going to like this.


	6. Chapter 5: Dubrillion Guns

**Orbit over Dubrillion**

Wedge dropped out of hyperspace and the sight before him cause his stomach to clench. One of the MC80 Star Cruisers looked like it had been sliced up by a giant lightsaber. It was still flying but it most likely couldn't take another hit. The other two cruisers had placed themselves between the planet below and the damaged cruiser, hoping that their overlapping shields would protect it and over a dozen heavy transports were hiding behind them as well, clustered together. As Wedge angled towards the convoy, his comms unit chimed. "This is Rogue Leader."

"Rogue Leader, this is the _Ultima_ \- we have a one man Y-wing ready for you. Please hurry;" came the reply.

Wedge blazed forward and boarded, hopping out of the A-wing and immediately climbing into the Y-wing, yelling as he did to one of the intelligence agents who had run up to brief him. "Give me the gist of the situation, Agent."

The agent pulled a hand held holo projector from his pocket and activated it. An image of a large facility and cannon, possibly a meter in diameter, appeared and as the agent explained, certain components were highlighted. "They have a down-scaled superlaser cannon down there - maybe twice the size of a v-150 planetary defender ion cannon like we had at Hoth. It has a series of relay dishes around the main component. Destroying them would drastically reduce the power of the blasts, hopefully enough so that our shield will be able to repel them for a little longer. After that, the main components of the superlaser will need to be taken out. Do so however you can."

"Got it;" said Wedge as he began powering up the fighter.

The Intel agent backed up as he took off.

Wedge looked around and joined one of the Y-wing squadrons. "Rogue Leader to Y-wing Squadrons, who am I flying with?"

"This is Champion Leader to your port side;" came the growling reply of one of the reptilian species, perhaps a Barabel.

"This is Alderaan Squadron to your right;" came another, a cultured human voice that reminded Wedge of his friend and executive officer Tycho Celchu.

Clearing his throat, Wedge said, "I've been read in to our mission. Who should I fall in under?"

"Actually sir, given your reputation and experience, we were planning on falling in under you, Rogue Leader;" replied Alderaan Leader and Champion Leader agreed.

Wedge nodded. "Alright, here's the plan: Champion Squadron will lead the way with precision bombing runs, targeting turbo laser emplacements and missile boats. Alderaan squadron will follow in a sweep with ion cannons. You'll be aiming for the ray shields that are protecting the relay dishes. Champion Squadron will then switch to cover fire, taking on enemy fighters and any other emplacements that are left - and also any ground vehicles that may be on the platforms and walkways while Alderaan Squadron expends the rest of their ordnance on the main cannon components. Once they run out, the squadrons will switch, with Alderaan Squadron providing cover for Champion Squadron."

"Sound plan, Rogue Leader;" said Alderaan Leader.

"You speak shrewdly, Rogue Leader;" agreed Champion Leader.

Wedge grinned. "Right; let's go. We don't have a lot of time."

* * *

The planet below was oddly beautiful - all but the massive superlaser emplacement facility. The oceans were a rich green-blue with white crested waves crashing on distant gray sandy beaches. All of this was lost on Wedge as he and the other Y-wings dove for the facility. Turbolaser fire blazed and hissed around them. "Going for our first run, Rogue Leader;" commed Alderaan Leader.

One of the Y-wing squadrons, painted with bright colors of gold and blue, the colors of the Alderaan Royal family when the planet had died, broke off and swept over the facility, their ion cannons spitting blue energy bolts.

"Engaging, Rogue Leader;" hissed Champion leader and his Y-wings, painted with Red insignia and stripes, began dropping protons bombs along emplacements and Imperial ground vehicle formations.

Wedge acknowledged, electing to follow behind Alderaan Squadron and drop proton bombs on the relay dishes after their ray shields fell to the ion barrages. "Rogue Leader, the dishes are cleared. Moving to engage the main gun."

Wedge watched as the Y-wings expended their proton bomb magazines. It barely seemed to do anything to the weapon and Wedge could already tell that adding what remained of Champion Squadron's ordnance wouldn't do much more. Thinking quickly, he commed all of them. "No effect. Change of plans - I'm going to land and steal a ground vehicle. Once I do, I'll alert you so that you know not to blow me up and then head in. I'm going to try and do what damage I can inside the cannon facility."

"Uh..." said Alderaan Leader, "ack-acknowledged, Rogue Leader. We'll keep you covered."

"Once you mark your ground vehicle, we'll be sure to clear the platforms ahead of you but once you're inside the facility, you'll be on your own;" said Champion Leader.

Wedge gave a tight smile. "Acknowledged and don't worry; this is no different than other Rogue Squadron missions."

He landed on an outer pad and hopped out, quickly rifling through the interior cargo hold. There were a couple of det-charges, tool belt and a basic med-pack. The charges and med pack, he grabbed before hopping out. Hurrying around, he went to the Y-wing's primary hold and yanked it open. There was another belt with four more charges, a compact DC-17 Blaster Rifle and extra powerpacks and a far more comprehensive medpack, not to mention a survival pack. He gathered everything he could carry and climbed up the vehicle way ramp. Right ahead of him was a large building with a pair of scout walkers inside. "Well what do you know?" muttered Wedge. "They just left them for little old me."

Looking ahead, he noticed that such structures were spaced along the ramps and platforms - AT-ST's and AT-AR's housed inside of them. Most had already been deployed and destroyed but a pair in the structure ahead of Wedge seemed to have either been abandoned or perhaps the crew were killed before they reached them. With his blaster rifle ready, he hurried forward and climbed onto the boarding deck. They were both empty and Wedge was about to drop into one when he paused. If an Imperial were to drop into the walker he didn't take, he would be attacked from behind and while the cockpits were armored against small arms, the weapons of another scout walker or turbo laser would shred it. With a shrug, he took a detonator charge and dropped it into one of the walkers before dropping into the other itself. The charge had a timer of five minutes set which would be plenty of time for him to figure out the controls.

Luke Skywalker had once taken an Imperial scout walker on one of his missions and had given a quick thirty minute class on their controls. Hopefully Wedge could remember how to use them. First, he switched all controls to the walker's driver's station. Second he he began to work the hydraulic legs. With a series of clangs and thuds, he moved forward. "Alright, so far so good;" murmured Wedge nervously.

Carefully, he took the vehicle out of its storage building. Just as he cleared the door, the walker behind him blew. "Alright, and we're off."

He began to clank down the vehicle ways. They were lined much like highways for landspeeders and such, not that Wedge was paying much attention. Grabbing a flair, the popped the hatch and set it off, using the walker's comms system as he did. "All rebel fighters, this is Rogue Leader. Identify the scout walker with a red flare on top of it as mine. Please don't destroy me."

Several amused acknowledgements followed and Alderaan Leader said, "Stang, Rogue Leader! Are all of you Rogues crazy?"

"You aught to have met our previous commander. He redefined crazy."

Ahead were a trio of AT-ST's but before he could target them, three Y-wings obliterated them with their laser cannons. Wedge chuckled and continued on, making for the main facility. Suddenly, his comms system crackled. "Rogue Leader, this is Champion Leader - we have AT-AT's being deployed. I repeat, we have AT-AT's being deployed. We're out of heavy ordnance. Please advise."

Wedge chewed his lower lip for a moment before coming back. "Use ion cannons in strafing runs and aim for the cockpits. The armor is thick but it will hopefully slow them or disrupt there systems."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader."

Wedge continued forward in his walker. His heart nearly stopped when a pair of the massive AT-AT's appeared ahead of him. They were firing upwards at the Y-wings with their medium weapons. The heavy laser cannons would have probably obliterated the fighters but they took time to charge and required the entire cockpit to swivel. The medium cannons mounted on the side could swivel much more freely. However, they mostly splashed off the Y-wings shields when they hit them. They completely ignored Wedge's AT-ST as it lumbered between them. Either the commanders, drivers and gunners thought he was retreating into the facility or they didn't even see him due the limited visibility and the cockpit's upward facing angle. Behind them was a massive lift, large enough to bare the two AT-AT's. Wedge wondered how he was going to get it to descend when his comlink chimed. "AT-ST thirteen, going down;"

There was a pause before Wedge answered, "Confirmed - AT-ST thirteen going down."

It was apparently the right thing to say because, with a jolt, the massive list began to descend. It was a good five minuted before the lift stopped and Wedge began to trundle forward. He cursed at the sight before him. It was the level where the inner machinery of the superlaser were housed. There were scout walkers in guard position so opening fire would be suicide. Suddenly, his comms crackled again. "AT-ST thirteen, what is your current assignment?"

Wedge's heart thudded as he cleared his throat and answered, "We were ordered to retreat. Most of the other units were destroyed by those cursed rebel bombers."

There was a long pause before the Imperial on the other in asked, "Thirteen, transmit the clearance code."

Well, that was that. It looked like he was going to have to fight his way through. "Standby;" he murmured as he checked his weapons. The walker had a dozen seeker concussion missiles, powerful enough to destroy any scout walker. As he activated his targeting systems, he was pleased to see that he could target up to four enemies at once. Instead of targeting the nearest enemies, he aimed further on. "Walker thirteen - we know that you're a rebel infiltrator. Stand down and surrender or be destroyed."

Wedge's only reply was a series of concussion missiles. Before they had even his their targets, Wedge had used the scout walker's 'chin' mounted blaster cannons to blast a pair of walkers along the walls. From other locations, nearly ten more walkers were appearing and moving in his direction. Wedge quickly expended his missiles and blazed away with his blaster cannons. He was able to destroy most of them before they could bring their own targeting systems to bare. The others, he managed to get his shots off first. The walkers sensors showed where every one of his opponents as green dots. They were everywhere too. Desperately, Wedge looked around and determined that he would be much better off running through the machinery where no vehicle could fit.

Quickly, he pulled up beside a pylon, opened the hatch and dropped onto it. From there he dropped to the floor. Looking around, he tried to see anything that looked like a meaningful component of the superlaser cannon. Nothing stuck out to him so he began to move through. Suddenly, his personal comlink chimed. "Rogue Leader - this is Champion leader, what's your status?"

"I'm inside the facility. Do you have any idea as to what a meaningful target would be?"

There was a pause before a new voice came over. "Rogue Leader, this is Captain Kazar of the Star Cruiser _Ultima_ \- the best bet would be to target the inner power nodes. Doing that will at least shut down the cannon. If we're lucky, it will cause the weapon to misfire and blow completely the next time they attempt to fire it."

"Great;" said Wedge. "Thank you, Captain Kazar."

He hurried forward, wondering it his charges would be enough to destroy the facility. With his blaster rifle ready, he slipped forward quickly between machines and consoles and terminals. He could barely here the _hiss-clank_ over the roaring machines as the walkers searched for him. It was easy going until he made it to another massive lift. On that lift was a single AT-AT walker. "You have got to be kidding me;" said Wedge, looking around for another way.

There wasn't one. The AT-AT's cockpit was searching back and forth, for all the world like a huge beast searching for its pray. Undoubtedly, it was waiting for an AT-ST walker and not a single rebel on foot. As the AT-AT's 'head' tracked to one side, Wedge sprinted forward and to its feet, hoping that it had missed him. Remembering what many of the pilots had seen Luke Skywalker do at Hoth, Wedge slung his blaster rifle and grabbed his harpoon gun and primed it. "I don't have a lightsaber but maybe a cutting torch will work."

There was an emergency exit hatch in the walker's lower haul and, aiming carefully, fired his ascension harpoon. The harpoon thudded into the walker centimeters away from the hatch. With a satisfied grunt, Wedge used used the harpoon gun to recoil the ascension line, pulling himself off the ground. Just before his helmet thudded into the underside of the walker, he cinched the line, stopping where he was almost directly under the exit hatch. Carefully, he examined the hatch before powering up his cutting torch and pausing. The noise would attract the attention of Imperials inside. Still, there was much that he could do about that. Most emergency hatches like this had activators that, if the door was damaged, it would open automatically. Examining the door again, he took a guess and used the torch to burn into the durasteel.

Apparently, he had guessed correctly because the hatch suddenly hissed open. Yanking his blaster pistol, Wedge aimed upwards just in time for a walker driver or gunner to appear. Wedge squeezed the trigger and the blast took the Imperial in the chest. As quickly as possible, Wedge began to try to scramble in to the walker. "Alright, Rebel, nice and easy;" said the other member of the crew.

Wedge nodded, carefully holstering his weapon and climbed inside. The Imperial took both his blasters and said, "Bold, but stupid, rebel - just like your entire rebellion."

Wedge grinned. "Oh I've been bold and stupid since way before I joined up. Hell! There was one time..." and he lunged, knocking the Imperials blaster pistol to the side just before it barked. Remembering his training with Paige's commandos, something that Luke had mandated whenever possible, Wedge jammed his fists into the driver's throat where the duraplast armor have way to the black body glove that TIE pilots, Stormtroopers and walker AT-AT drivers wore beneath.

The Imperial gurgled and tried to bring his blaster back to bare but, finding that to no longer be an option, dropped it and tried to resist Wedge unarmed. With one quick move, Wedge grabbed him and slammed his helmet against the inner wall before throwing him towards the hatch and diving for one of the discarded, whipping around and firing, killing his opponent.

With a deep breath, Wedge climbed to his feet and ran to the cockpit. It was empty of course.

Relieved that he had taken the AT-AT, Wedge eased into the driver's seat and ran an eye over the controls. They were pretty similar to the AT-ST's, albeit, far more extensive. One thing he noticed on the wall was an activator for the lift. "Well isn't that convenient;" he muttered.

He slapped it and took the ride to try to familiarize himself with the controls. They were extensive but not too terribly complicated. As soon as the lift stopped, he began to advance. The walker was surprising smooth if ponderously slow. Way ahead, he could see the internal workings of the lasercannon - three power nodes. Unlike the AT-ST, he couldn't switch over all controls to the driver's station so he stood up and switched seats. Powering up the laser cannons, Wedge targeted the nodes and waited for a ping that indicated the optimal time to fire. When it pinged, he opened fire, blasting one of them.

Wedge grinned. "One down."

Within a few minutes, he had managed to destroy the others. "Great now to get out of here. I wonder if..."

He looked at a holo-map of the facility stored in the walker's memory banks and found that there was a maintenance lift that went to a platform at the top. Wedge grinned more broadly and jammed the AT-AT into forward movement ran to the emergency hatch. From the wall, he grabbed descension line and dropped again. The line dropped him to the ground at a safe pace and he landed at a run, hoping fervently that he didn't blow up with the facility. Keying his comlink, he contacted the astro droid socketed in his Y-wing. "Are-three, I need you to track this comlink and pick me up. Can you do that?"

The droid whistled a cheerful affirmative. "And please make it quick, little buddy. I don't know when this thing is going to blow."

He smacked the activation lever and began to rise.

Atop the maintenance pad, Wedge saw in the distance, his Y-wing approaching. Suddenly, his comlink chimed again. "Rogue Leader, this is Alderaan Leader - the weapon is powering up again!"

Wedge cursed and mentally urged the fighter to hurry up. It seemed like forever before it was close enough for him to jump in and take control. Turning skyward and at an angle away from the cannon. Behind him, audible rumbles were heard and fire began to burst from the systems. Whoops of excitement came over the comms and Captain Kazar said, "Well done, Rogue Leader. We have your A-wing fueled and ready to return you home. Thanks again for the assist. I'm sending a recommendation to command for commendations."

Wedge replied, "Thank you, Captain."


	7. Chapter 6: Mission to Kothlis

**Aboard the Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

Wedge and Tycho traded blows as they worked their way around the mat. "Easy, Wedge;" called Lieutenant Judder Paige, the Special Forces officer who worked with the Rogues whenever they needed straining.. "Keep your hands up. That's better! Don't let him slug you on the jaw. That's it! Lock, toss and- YES! You got it!"

Tycho groaned against the knee on his throat. "Ouch!"

Wedge laughed and helped him up. "Your turn, Tycho."

"Unfortunately not, Commander;" said Karie Neth as she clicked her comlink off and gathered her duffel bag. "We just got an emergency mission that we need to be briefed on and leave for as soon as possible."

The Rogues followed her example and ran full tilt to the briefing room, still covered in sweat and dust. General Rieeken and Winter Retrac were there and ready for them. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Rogues;" said Rieeken, his grave face even more so than normal. "We just received word from Commander Skywalker. He has recently lead a team of Bothans and received critical information about an Imperial super weapon. Details on this weapon are sketchy at best and we need all the info we can get. You will be going with the escort frigate _Redemption_ to pick up and escort the Corellian Corvette _Razor_ from over Kothlis back here to _Home One_. Any questions?"

None of the Rogues spoke up so Rieeken continued. "Six of you will be in B-wings and six will be in X-wings. You can decide among yourselves who flies what just decide quick so that your ships can be made ready. Dismissed."

* * *

 **Space over Kothlis**

Wedge and the other veteran members of Rogue Squadron had learned years ago under Luke Skywalker that missions never wound up as simple as the briefings made them sound. Therefore, when they dropped out of hyperspace and the _Redemption_ comm'd across all frequencies, "Rogue Squadron, we have a Star Destroyer and it's got the _Razor_ in a tractor beam!"

"Understood, _Redemption_. X-wings, fly cover for B-wings. B-wings, we're going to get in close and blast their shield generators;" ordered Wedge as he went over the controls of his B-wing with practiced ease.

Tycho was the one in charge of the X-wings and he blazed forward, drawing the fire of the turbolaser batteries and managing to knock out a few of them. The Star Destroyer, tentatively identified as the _Motivator,_ was finally scrambling TIE's since a rebel escort frigate and fighter squadron dropped out of hyperspace and caught them completely by surprise. Even then, they were barely mobilized before the X-wings vaped them.

The B-wings streaked for the two shield generator domes, firing proton torpedoes under their deflector shields and blowing them to shards. The result was that the Star Destroyers turbolasers and point defense systems blazed with even greater intensity. It was just a little too late, however, for everyone involved. It was too late for the Destroyer because its defenses weren't tight enough to stop the fast moving fighters. It was too late for the rebels because the Razor was firmly in the docking bay and the Destroyer was turning towards open space.

Wedge gritted his teeth. "Rogues, we need to stop them from making it to hyperspace! Rogue Four, take the X-wings back towards the _Redemption_ and have them contact command. We're going to need a commando team and perhaps another couple squadrons of fighters."

"What's the goal, Rogue Leader?" asked Tycho as he headed back towards the _Redemption._

"We're going to force that Star Destroyer to the planet below;" answered Wedge as he and the other B-wing pilots went behind aft of the Star Destroyer and swung all the way around. "Someone find me a way to take out the hyperdrive;" he ordered as he scanned for the best way to eliminate the Destroyer's only method of escape.

Suddenly, Karie Neth called out, "Got it, sending it to your on-board computers."

"Got it;" said Wedge and he armed his torpedoes. "Lock targets and - FIRE!"

Twelve torpedoes sped forward and slammed into the Star Destroy. At first, their didn't seem to be any effect. Wedge cursed. "Get clear, Rogues! Get clear! They're about to jump!"

At first, Wedge was afraid it was too late but then, something clearly went wrong aboard the destroyer. It suddenly began to drift towards the planet. It was as if all power had completely shut off aboard and it was now being pulled in towards Kothlis.

"What's going on?" asked Tycho Celchu. "Talk to me!"

"I think that the destroyers going down!" said Wedge, shocked at his own declaration.

"Well then let's help it along. Take out its sublight engines;" crowed Karie Neth.

Wedge couldn't agree more. "Alright, let's take a run against the engines and then we'll wait until reinforcements arrive."

At full speed, they blazed towards the engines and sent another dozen torpedoes into the sides of the massive thrusters. It was a beautiful thing to see those engines go dark. The Star Destroyer was slowly heading towards the planet below.

"It's going to be falling for an hour at least, Rogues;" chuckled Wedge.

It was an exaggeration but not a drastic one. It was likely that they would get their repulsers up and running enough to slow the fall but not enough to stop it, not in time to keep the destroyer in the sky. The Rogues and the Redemption were aware of when the Star Destroyer crashed to ground when the Bothan colonists began sending distress calls to them.

* * *

Wedge woke to Tycho shouting at him through the comms. "Rogue Leader, blast it, wake up!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Wedge said as he tried to stretch in the cramped quarters of the B-wing cockpit. Looking around, he saw that four transports had arrived as had a squadron of Y-wings. "What are our orders?"

"None so far. We'll just fall in with the transports and-"

"Rogue Squadron, this is General Madine;" came a transmission over all frequencies. "You'll be joining us in recovering the data from the wreck of that Star Destroyer and the _Razor_. You and the Y-wing wills be providing air support. _Redemption_ , you and one of these transports will be offering any relief necessary to the nearby Bothan settlements."

Wedge couldn't help but snort to himself. "Unless the Destroyer landed on or at least near a settlement, I highly doubt it's necessary."

In the comms, he replied, "Roger that, General. We'll cover you."

With practiced ease, the Rogues fell in on the transports in escort positions as they headed in towards the planet.

Kothlis was beautiful. From high above, they could tell that it was a lush, tropical world. Wedge scanned the area but it didn't take long to see the massive wreck of the Star Destroyer. The starship was the size of a mid-sized city and it was partially sunken in the shallows of a massive bay and, judging by the energy levels, some of the systems were still up. "General Madine, this is Rogue Leader - we've located the Star Destroyer. Most of its systems are still online, including its dorsal defenses. I recommend you land and move in on foot while we keep the turbolasers and warhead launchers busy."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader; Gold Leader, lead with a bombing run to give us more cover and eliminate some of the defenses."

As the transports touched down and the commandos began to deploy, the Y-wings dropped their payload. As Gold Squadron angled off, TIE Fighters and Bombers were suddenly launched from the wreck. "Rogue Four take the X-wings and go after the bombers;" snapped Wedge as he angled towards the TIE Fighters, his B-wings behind him.

"How the kriff are they launching?" growled Karie, "isn't their docking bay submerged?"

"Ruptured haul or a secondary docking bay or hanger would be my guess;" gritted Wedge as he squeezed the trigger, blowing a TIE out of the sky.

"It's gets worse;" gritted Gold Leader as he spun to evade a TIE fighter. "I'm picking mechanized ground forces coming from the Star Destroyer. To cap it all off, readings on the power corp indicate that's it's going critical. We have maybe two hours before it's about to melt down."

Wedge swooped in and blasted the TIE off Gold Leaders back before comming General Madine. "General, this is Rogue Leader - we have mechanized units coming your way."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader. We are also seeing Imperials taking positions on the outer haul of the destroyer. They have E-Web and M-web emplacements and energy barriers. We'll need those cleared if we're going to get to the _Razor's_ data core."

Wedge chewed the inside of his cheek, doing some fast thinking. "Arlight;" he said over all squadron frequencies, "Gold Squadron, take another bombing run along the emplacements. Go for precision, not blanket coverage. Rogue Four, keep on those TIE's with your X-wings. They can't possibly have that many more aboard. The rest of you Rogues, with me. As soon as those mechanized units emerge from the water, we're going to vape them."

"The first AT-AT's and AT-PT's are starting to break the surface now, Rogue Leader;" announced General Madine, strain creeping into his voice.

"Acknowledged; beginning our first run. Rogues, the AT-PT's are going to be in firing position before the AT-AT's. As soon as they are a solid target, take your shots. Break off into pairs and engage at will."

AT-PT's were single-man pods with rapid, heavy blaster cannons and concussion grenade launchers. They were made as crowd control, anti personnel and even riot control vehicles. If they were able to move into firing position, they would prove even more devastating than the AT-AT's due to the AT-PT's speed, maneuverability and rapid fire.

As soon as the first squad of four broke the surface, they were obliterated. "First four down;" crowed Wes Jansen.

Wedge suppressed a chuckle and growled, "Next twelve breaking the surface. Cut the chatter and engage."

The AT-PT's swarmed from the water, opening fire as soon as their blaster cannons were purged of the sea water. The B-wings dove, fired and broke off before swinging around and repeating. They were barely able to keep up with the swarms of them and when a series of heavy artillery blasts slammed into the beach where Madine and his commandos were advancing, Wedge cursed. "Keep on them! I'm going on a torpedo run against those AT-AT's."

"Be careful, Rogue Leader;" said Karie. "Those heavy laser cannons will smash through your shields in just a couple shots."

Wedge didn't respond as he lined up his shot and fired, aiming for the fuel tanks nestled under the main passenger compartment between the four legs. The explosion was spectacular but due to the limited maneuverability of the B-wing, his bottom most gun was severally damaged in the explosion. "Blast! R5, can you- Oh never mind! Not in an X-wing."

Several amused snorts notified Wedge that he had said that over the squadron's coms frequency. "Remember what I said about being careful, Rogue Leader?" demanded Karie.

Wedge ignored her and the series of snickers that followed. As he swung along, he gave himself more space and lined up his shot. He was running low on ordnance but he hopefully had enough. He also hoped that the crash had taken out at leave some of the Star Destroyer's twenty AT-AT's. If not, it would take every proton bomb and proton torpedo that the rebel fighters had to destroy them; and the AT-PT's were still coming.

"I'm surprised there aren't any AT-AR's or AT-ST's coming out;" murmured Hobbie.

"I'm guessing this Star Destroyer captain preferred AT-PT's to either of them, judging by the sheer volume of them;" said Tycho.

Three AT-AT's were lumbering there way out of the water and Wedge gritted his teeth, firing one torpedo after another at them. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to line up with any of the very small weak spots. Two of the walkers were disabled but the third lost a chunk off the top of the rear passenger compartment. That only made things worse when someone who had been in their mounted an E-web and opened fire.

The E-webs were repeating blaster cannons and would take quite a few direct hits to bring down a star fighter's shields. They were more a nuisance than anything.

"Rogue Leader, we're going to need you and your B-wings to punch a whole through the outer haul. The Y-wings have already expended their bombs trying to. The X-wings have finished off the TIE's and will keep the walkers busy;" said General Madine.

"Acknowledged, General;" replied Wedge as he speed towards his other fighters. "Form up and get ready. We're going to fire the rest of our torpedoes. Ready? Fire!"

After a massive, multiple explosion and after the smoke cleared, the Rogues observed a massive breach in the outer haul. Seeing the exposed corridors, access ways, maintenance shafts and storage bays brought to mind a massive insect hive that seem even larger animal had ripped into to get at what was inside.

General Madine commed, "Well done, Rogues. Most of the walkers are clear now and so are all of the TIE's. Keep an eye on the skies in case another Imperial ship arrives."

The half hour was tense. Every few minutes, one of the fighters would call out that a steadily decreasing time frame of when the Star Destroyer's power core would suffer a catastrophic failure. There were twelve simultaneous sighs of relief when General Madine commed, "All Alliance forces, we're clear and heading back to the transports. We have successfully obtained all data from the _Razor's_ data core. We should be able to depart in fifteen minutes."

"With all do respect, I'd put some speed on, Sir;" warned Tycho. "Sensor readings of the power core estimate you have about twenty before it suffers a catastrophic failure. If that happens, there is a high probably of a rather large explosion, not to mention a ridiculous amount of toxic waste - which I'm sure the Bothan colonists are going to be very excited about."

"Thanks for the heads up, Rogue Four;" said Madine. "We're moving as fast as we're able."

Wedge swept over the retreating rebel commandos as they sprinted towards the transports. It was almost a kilometer between the wreck and escape - almost a kilometer of deep sand and an increasingly violent surf. Even so, they boarded the transports with time to spare, carrying several injured commandos with them. The transports lifted off and the fighters fell in on them in escort positions. They were making for space when the Star Destroyer behind them exploded spectacularly, sending a massive column of fire and a cloud of debris. Less than a minute after that, the Redemption's captain came over the comms with an anxious voice. "Rogue Leader, General Madine - the locals are beginning to throw a fit. Please advise!"

Wedge rolled his eyes and General Madine replied, "Tell them that we're leaving and will send transports and an escort frigate to help with the clean up. Other than that, there's nothing else we can really offer. We need to get out of the system before more Imperial ships arrive."

"Acknowledged, General. We'll meet you back at the rendezvous point."

As they made it to space and out of the planets gravity well, Wedge finally allowed himself to relax. A few minutes later, they made the jump to lightspeed and to safety.

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

Wedge pulled the datacard from his console with a sigh and stuck it in his pocket. His report was finished, as were his repair work orders, his ordnance requisitions and his commendation recommendations. Now, all he wanted was a stiff Corellian brew, a good meal and to _not_ have to look at the screen of a display monitor. Standing, he gather his cards and left his office. To his surprise, Karie Neth caught him outside. "Hey, Boss!" she said enthusiastically, "headed to mess?"

Wedge grinned. He liked Karie. She was cheerful and had a way of cheering everyone around her up. "Yes but I need to drop off some datacard first."

"I'll walk with you;" said Karie, easily falling into step. "That was sum mission, huh? No losses, no damage and a wealth of information on the Empire's latest super weapon! Rogue Squadron is going to go down in history as the bane of the Empire."

"I bet it will;" laughed Wedge. "You flew great out there, by the way. You're beginning to make flying a B-wing look easy."

"It is easy;" she laughed, blushing just slightly. "And thank you."

They chatted contentedly as Wedge turned in his datacards one at a time. When he was down to his after action report, General Rieeken looked at Karie, his face very serious. "Will you excuse us please, Lieutenant Neth? There is something serious that we need to discuss with Commander Antilles."

Karie nodded and said, "Of course, Sir. See you in the mess, Commander."

When the door hissed shut, General Rieeken called in General Madine before activating a series of holo projectors. The entirety of High Command suddenly appeared, along with several of the other higher ranking leadership. Clearing his throat, General Rieeken said, "Thanks to the exceptional piloting skills of our pilots and commandos, and also of Commander Skywalker and members of the Bothan resistance, we have recovered a great deal of high value information. Two subjects are especially important. The first is an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought under construction at the shipyards of the world of Fondor. According to what we have learned, it is incomplete but, when it is finished, it will include a stealth field generator that will render it invisible to sight, sensors and scanners. How close it is to completion, we aren't sure but as soon as we get more information of that section of the shipyards, a mission will be planned but this is most certainly not the most grave news. Part of the data packet that Commander Skywalker was able to obtain included the plans and schematics to the second Death Star project."

Wedge hissed! A second Death Star? When did that happen and when were they planning on telling the rest of the Alliance?

"The reason we are gathered here now is to put together a plan to destroy this new Death Star;" said Mon Mothma in holographic form.

Wedge frowned, resisting the urge to ask why he need to be there. "Commander Antilles;" said Admiral Ackbar, "there are going to be a series of preparatory missions leading up to the this confrontation. We have an idea of what one of them might be but are not entirely sure of the others. We need you to be prepared because, once these mission begin, they will be constant, one after the other."

"Yes, Sir;" said Wedge.

With a nod, Rieeken activated a series of holo projectors, showing Alliance and Imperial fleet locations, current supply lists and possible Imperial installations. "Right then;" he said, his face grim. "Let's begin."


	8. Chapter 7: Heist at Prefsbelt IV

Wedge climbed out of the simulator and stretched. He really didn't like the B-wing simulator any more than the fighter itself. They were slow and less maneuverable than his beloved X-wings but they had ion cannons and a higher capacity proton torpedo magazine. Out of the other cockpit climbed Karie Neth. She grinned broadly and said, "I like those ships."

"Of course you do;" chuckled Wedge.

They got cleaned up and headed to dinner. As they ate, Karie asked, "So tell me, boss, what do we have going on next?"

Wedge frowned and swallowed a mouthful of food. "What do you mean?"

"Is there a mission coming up? Are we on patrols anytime soon? What's going on?"

Wedge chuckled. "No patrols but the higher-ups say we have several missions coming - critical ones. They're going to be smaller scale, probably only one or two pilots at a time."

Karie nodded, quiet for a minute. Finally, she asked, "Is something coming that we should know about?"

Wedge nodded slowly before asking, "Do you trust me, Karie?"

That seemed to catch her by surprise. "Of course I do, Wedge!"

"Then trust me when I say that it's all very important but that I can't tell you, at least not yet. As soon as I can, I will."

She studied him for a moment before smiling and saying, "You got it boss. I'll be ready whenever you need me."

Wedge smiled and patted her hand. "Good girl."

* * *

Wedge and Hobbie listened to General Rieeken as he explained their mission parameters. "We had captured an Imperial shuttle from Zhar that we were planning on using for our mission against this second Death Star but it appears that it was recaptured and transferred to the Naval Academy at Prefsbelt IV. Do I need to explain where this is going?"

Wedge chuckled dryly. "Oh no, I think we've got it. What we do need to know is how we are expected to pull this off. What resources do we have?"

"Well the way we see it, you have two options;" stated Rieeken. "You can either take a two man Y-wing in during the day, use the ion cannon to disable the sensor nodes all the way in and then use the bombs to clear a path through the ground defenses, land and steal the shuttle and get out or you can take a speeder at night, fly low to avoid their sensor nodes and clear the ground defenses with your blaster cannons, steal the shuttle and then get out. Either way, the rest of your squadron will be waiting in X-wings and Y-wings in the outer system. As soon as you call, they'll be there to get you out."

Wedge looked at Hobbie and cocked an eyebrow. "I'd go with the Y-wing, Boss. It'll have more fire power than the Air speeder and I'd rather trust an ion cannon to knock out the sensors than just staying low."

"Agreed;" said Wedge. "Alright, let's go."

The other Rogues were being briefed while Wedge and Hobbie got ready. "How the blazes are you going to get anywhere near an Imperial Flight Academy without being picked up by scanners or sensors?" asked Karie.

"A single fighter under sensor stealth mode should be able to slip in without a problem;" answered Hobbie.

"And if they decided to do a scan?" asked Wes Jansen.

"Why would they?" countered Wedge as he tossed his helmet into the cockpit above. "We'll go nice and careful like and approach from around the curve of the planet."

The other Rogues didn't like it one bit and Wedge couldn't blame them. Going to one of the Empire's flight academies was risky, especially for a single squadron looking to pick up a single shuttle. What's more, it was deep in Imperial space. It wouldn't be easy but this was the first part of a multi-stage plan that would prepare them to destroy the second Death Star before the station's defenses and weapons systems were operational. At the same time, General Crix Madine and a Page's Commando were working on obtaining the necessary equipment for another mission.

The Y-wing was ready for them. It was not loaded with ordinance, leaving it armed only with laser cannons and the dorsal mounted ion cannon turret. Wedge's R5 unit was waiting in the astromech droid slot. "You ready up there, big guy?" Wedge asked his droid.

Arfive whistled a cheerful affirmative as they climbed in. Hobbie checked the turrets controls while Wedge went through pre-flight. They were just barely aware of the X-wings and Y-wings powering up around them as their fellow Rogues prepared to leave. "This is crazy, Wedge?" murmured Hobbie.

"Yeah, it's a bit far fetched but, hey, I'd rather us than anyone else do it. Who else would have a chance?" asked Wedge.

"Who else would take the assignment?" grumbled Hobbie. "Anyhow, I'm ready when you are, Wedge."

* * *

 **Prefsbelt IV - Canyons Surrounding the Imperial Fighter Pilot Academy**

They had approached the planet on sensor stealth mode and dropped fast, kicking in repulsers and leveling out just in time to not smash into the planet surface. "Cutting it a little close, aren't you?" commented Hobbie dryly.

Wedge chuckled. "Are you kidding? That was nothing. If it were Luke, you'd need to change out your flightsuit."

"Well then I'm glad you aren't Luke. Anyhow, just finished running one last check on the ion cannon. All systems green."

"Copy that;" said Wedge and kicked in the repulsers, easing the fighter into the air.

"Arming the ion cannon;" murmured Hobbie.

They flew as low as possible, a bare ten meters above the ground. Wedge kept his breathing under control, knowing that even the slightest mistake would be fatal. Behince him, Hobbie said, "Alright, targeting the first sensors array."

The ion cannon thumped sever times and blue energy slapped into the sensors array. It sparked and fizzled, the sensor dish ending its spinning. "Nice shooting;" murmured Wedge. "Now let's do that a few more times."

"You got it;" said Hobbie.

Over and over again, the ion cannon fired its streams of energy and knocked out the sensors. As they came upon that last couple sensors, Wedge looked down at his scopes and frowned. According to them, the canyons branched off in two directions - one leading to the main training facilities and the other, leading around to the rear of the facility. "Hey Hobbie, my scopes show a small guard station in the canyon branch that leads to the rear of the facility."

"Go for it!" said Hobbie. "That way we won't have to fly through hundreds of TIE fighter flight cadets."

"As if that will be something to worry about anyway;" murmured Wedge.

Hobbie chuckled as he knocked out the last scanner. "Alright, we're clear."

Wedge acknowledged and took the canyon passage to the left. It was tight and Wedge stayed as low as he could without risking hitting the canyon floor or walls. Before long, they came on the guard post. A single TIE sat on the canyon floor. There was a sensor tower and a control building. Hobbie hit the tower and the building with volleys of ion blasts and Wedge landed, popping the canopy, yanking his blaster and shooting the three Imperials that were towards his Y-wing. Another was racing for the TIE bot Hobbie, being a crack shot, even with a pistol, brought him down before he could climb in. "Okay, here's the deal;" said Wedge. "I'm taking that TIE and flying it to the Imperial base where I'll steal the shuttle. As soon as I'm clear and on my way back, you can take off and be ready to get me some support."

Hobbie frowned for a moment but then shrugged and said, "Well its better than our original plan. Be careful."

Wedge chuckled. "Hang tight and wish me luck."

Wedge jogged over and hustled up the stairs to the cockpit hatch. It was already open and he dropped into it. With a sigh, Wedge muttered, "I should really have the Rogues do some TIE simulator training. I'm rusty."

Even so, his training began to return to him and he wobbled off the ground. "Oh I hate these stupid things."

Wedge was rather embarrassed as he came to the realization that he would fit right in with the other green cadets of the academy. But as he headed towards the Academy, it came back to him and his natural skill allowed him to easily and gracefully maneuver the ship.

As he came around a bend in the canyon, he was greeted by a daunting sight. Aside from the training ground's primary command tower, the barracks, the defensive turrets and the landing pads, there were literally hundreds of TIE Fighters sitting down. Rank upon rank of cadet pilots stood or marched all over the place. Suddenly, his comms unit crackled and a perturbed voice said, "Attention unit TP312, you are not supposed to leave your post. Explain yourself immediately."

Wedge grimaced and replied, "Command told me to replace this fighter at the defending TIE wing's landing pad."

"You are heading the wrong way, TP312. Reduce speed and wait for me to confirm the order."

"Standing by;" said Wedge before gunning the engines and blazing towards his goal.

He could see the shuttle sitting all alone on its pad. Unfortunately, their were four emplacements right there, surrounding the pad. If he didn't do something about them, they would blow the shuttle away as it wobbled off the platform. Arming the laser cannons, Wedge angled the fighter and got ready to make one devastating run. As soon as he was in range, he squeezed the trigger. One emplacement after another went up in flames and Wedge knew that he had very little time. His comms unit was already shrieking with tower command and patrolling TIE's warning him off. Quickly, he landed and sprinted to the shuttle, blasting the Imperial mechanics and crew members as he did before running up the ramp. Without even going through preflight, Wedge powered her up and raised off the ground. Looking through the view port, he watched as TIE's began to rise from the training academy's pads. "Come on, you piece of scrap;" he muttered to the shuttle. "Come ON!"

As soon as he was high enough of the ground, he threw the ship into full throttle and angled upwards, extending the wings and arming the forward and rearward laser cannons. Before many of them even had the chance to target him, Wedge managed to scrap quite a few of the TIE's but the entire field was rising behind him. Throwing as much power to the shields as possible.

The good news was that regular TIE's lost quite a bit of their speed and maneuverability in atmosphere because of the planets gravitational pull and a lambda-class shuttle like the one that Wedge was in did just as well in atmo as it did out of atmo. The problem was that, even with that advantage, the TIE's were still faster and more maneuverable than the lambda. Whenever any were forward, Wedge engaged, shredding the unshielded and unarmored ships. Whenever they got too close behind, he used the rear facing cannon controls and vaped them. The only problem was that any TIE's that came from port or starboard were able to make runs, Wedge's only defense being his superior flying skill and his shields and armor.

"Hobbie, I'm on my way back and I could use support;" Wedge said into his comms unit.

Shortly after, the reply came. "You got it boss. I also contacted out support. They should be here in three minutes."

"Oh joy;" muttered Wedge. "I don't know if we can last three minutes."

"We'll be fine;" said Hobbie. "I'm lifting off now. How many do you have after you?"

"All of them, Hobbie!" said Wedge as he barely avoided losing his shields to a stream of laser fire before managing to blast several more TIE's. "I have all of them on me."

He thanked every deity that he had ever heard of and the force that these were grass-green Imperial pilot cadets and still clumsy in their maneuvers. He managed to blast a few more when six prepared to came at him from his port side. Wedge grimaced and readied himself to take damage when Hobbie obliterated three of them, causing two more to collide with one another and a third to wonder into another TIE's line of fire.

"Thanks, Hobbie;" gritted Wedge as he tried to avoid another stream of energy.

Together, they angled skyward, avoiding the enemy with difficulty only due to the sheer volume of enemy fighters. "We might be in trouble, Boss;" said Hobbie as he managed to wheel away and blast a couple more TIE's.

Wedge's shields were beginning to fail and he knew that his armor would only last so much longer. He readied himself for a last ditch effort to throw everything to the engines and run for it when suddenly, six X-wings and four Y-wings blazed out of the clouds and shredded the pursuing ships. "Hey commander;" came Tycho's voice, "you know we hate it when you start the party without us."

Wedge breathed a massive sigh of relief and replied, "Well you know those Imperials. They were pretty insistent we get started ahead of schedule and how was I supposed to say no to a couple hundred excited fighter pilot cadets?"

The X-wings blasted any who were brave enough to continue invading and the Y-wings engaged the defensive TIE fighters, soaking up their fire and returning it with far more effect. Before too long, they were out of the planet's atmosphere and just a little longer after that, they were in hyperspace.

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

Wedge circled the shuttle one more time while the mechanics worked on patching its dings and freshening up its paint job. He never really like the shuttles the Empire employed. They were all boring, angular and clunky. He would take the ships the Alliance used over them any day. Even so, it had been kinda fun behind the stick of the shuttle. Patting the hull one more time, he adjusted his flight helmet under his arm and headed towards the exit. The other Rogues surrounded him and Wes Janson said, "Way to go, Boss."

"Yup, you did a great job, Wedge;" said Karie.

As they headed towards their quarters to change, General Rieeken intercepted them. "Before you get cleaned up, follow me. We need to brief you all on what's going on."

Frowning, the Rogues followed, asking each other in low voices what was going on. They all filed in and sat down. General Rieeken and General Airen Cracken both looked grim. The latter began. "We have looked into the intelligence gathered over the recent months and found several very disturbing trends. The Empire is working on two terrifying new weapons. One of them is an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought being worked on at Fondor. According to the report, it is being fitted with a cloaking device of some kind. As we speak, we have one of our best teams gathering the needed equipment and tools for this mission."

The Rogues looked around at one another, murmuring in alarm. There were rumors that the Empire had several of the mammoth 'super star destroyers' but thus far, the only one that they had experienced was Darth Vader's personal flagship the _Executor_. Hearing that there was a second one and that it was being fitted with a cloaking device was a terrifying idea.

"There's more, even worse news;" continued Cracken.

The Rogues fell silent, waiting in opened mouthed dread. "Thanks to Commander Skywalker and his liaising with the Bothan spy network, we have learned of the existence of a second, even larger Death Star being constructed in secret near the forest moon of Endor."

Karie looked at Wedge, her eyes wide and understanding. He gave her a grim nod before turning to the generals. "So what is our next operation?"

"Alliance High Command is going to gather a large fleet at Sullust while simultaneously ramping up operations around the galaxy. When all the forces are gathered at Sullust, they will have a solid plan. In the mean time, we have equipment and ordinance to gather for this mission. Your mission, Rogue Squadron, will be to go with some retrofitted transports to the gas giant Bespin. Thanks to the information given to us by one Lando Calrissian, we know that there is an operation there that is small enough that it won't have an overly large Imperial presents but more than large enough to supply this attack."

"When will this attack take place?" asked Wedge.

"As soon as we receive word that the mission is a go from High Command."

General Rieeken clasped his hands and said, "You have proven to be one of our greatest assets, Rogue Squadron. After the downfall of Moff Kohl Seerdon, many in the Mid and Outer Rims are even calling you the Bane of the Empire. But your greatest tests are ahead of you, not behind. Commander Antilles, you had large boots to step into and, in my opinion and the opinion of many, you did so flawlessly, bringing your own style of command to the squadron and molding it into a more versatile force. When last we spoke, Commander Skywalker said that he was very impressed and proud of how you all operated."

Many a back slap and murmured agreement was heard and Wedge just blushed.

"For the moment, you're dismissed, Rogues. Be ready. I'm sure a mission will be coming shortly."

The Rogues stood and walked out. Wedge moved automatically as one thought stuck in his mind. The General was right. Their greatest test _was_ ahead of them - ahead of the entire Rebel Alliance.


	9. Chapter 8: Raid on Bespin

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

The Rogues were working with Lieutenant Page and his commandos when the call came. In fact, Wedge was flat on his back with a grinning Karie Neth over him. "Come on, Boss. I thought you were tougher than that."

"I was going easy on you;" said Wedge.

Immediately, a gleam appeared in Karie's eyes. "Oh so you're going easy on me? Why is that? Because I'm a women perhaps?"

Wedge suddenly felt nervous. "No! No, not because you're a women! There was this Twi'lek named Rianna, she could kick my ass with her eyes closed! _Obviously_ , it's not because you're a woman."

"Really?" said Karie as she leaned down, one just-slightly unkempt eyebrow raised. "Then why, exactly, are you going easy on me?"

Wedge gulped and said, "Because... uh... because I'm bigger than you?"

Karie's eyes widened and she looked at Page. "Lieutenant, are Stormtroopers going to be bigger or smaller then me if I ever find myself facing them in hand-to-hand combat?"

Judder Page was grinning as he answered, "Every Stormtrooper is roughly between 1.80 and 1.85 meters tall when in their full combat armor. They usually way around 113.4 kilograms when in full kit and are in perfect combat shape and conditioning."

She turned her eyes back to Wedge and raised her eyebrow again. Just then, the intercom chimed. "Rogue Squadron, report to the briefing room off the main hanger."

Sweaty, sticky and aromatic with the scent of hard work, the twelve ace fighter pilots piled into the room. Though they were able to keep their bearing professional, it was quite amusing to watch General Rieeken's nose wrinkle as they all sat down. When everyone was settled, Rieeken activated a holo-projector. The shimmering blue form of a tibanna gas storage platform appeared and several of the older, more seasoned Rogues, including Wedge, were unable to suppress a groan. "Now, now Rogues;" said Rieeken, a wry smile on his face, "chin up. This next mission with be to acquire a large amount of tibanna gas for the two massive coming battles. To that end, we gained in-depth insider knowledge of the Bespin gas mines."

A figure that Wedge didn't quite recognize strode forward. He was dressed in black pants, a white shirt and a vest, not unlike Captain Han Solo's - but this was not Han Solo. He had darker skin and flashed a brilliant smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Rogue Squadron. Luke Skywalker has said many great things. I'm Lando Calrissian, the former Baron Administrator of Cloud City on Bespin and I'm going to provide all the information you need to get that tibanna gas. Now the mining facility isn't large at all, so small in fact that we managed to avoid the eyes of both the Mining Guild and the Empire for quite some time. Now, however, there is an Imperial garrison there. They have set up platforms to take a good amount of the tibanna gas for the Imperial war machine. Those are the storage platforms you will be hitting. Using a half a dozen medium transports, and of course the legendary skill of Rogue Squadron, you should be able to make off with more than enough tibanna gas for both missions."

The man looked pretty pleased with himself until Wedge lifted a hand, "Mister Calrissian, a couple questions for you: what kind of Imperial resistance are we expecting here?"

"I'm glad you asked!" said the man with another blinding white smile. "You're Wedge, right? I left the city in a bit of a hurry so I can't speak to exactly what they have. Past experience says they probably have siege balloons with laser cannons, several squadrons of TIE Fighters and Interceptors and quite possibly some TIE bombers too. Oh, and they most likely placed laser cannons all over the place in the city. You know how the Imperials just love their laser cannons. Any other questions?"

"Yeah;" said Wedge, "why'd you have to leave in such a hurry?"

Suddenly, Lando Calrissian looked just a little uncomfortable. "Let's just say that a deal made with what turned out to be a rather controlling and unreliable partner went south in a hurry. Any other questions?"

None were forthcoming and Calrissian turned his eyes on Karie Neth, smiling even more brightly. "How about you, Sweetheart?"

Karie tensed and said coolly, "I didn't raise my hand, so no."

It took a moment for Lando to realize the eleven pairs of eyes, aside from Karie's, were glaring at him balefully. Clearing his throat, and suddenly uncomfortable, Calrissian said, "Right. Well I won't keep you any longer. Good luck, Rogue Squadron."

Slowly, the Rogues stood and exited, most of them shooting the man a warning glare as they did. Wedge hung back to last and General Rieeken said, "Commander, have your pilots ready in an hour. There will be RZ-1 A-wings prepped for them since they proved invaluable last time we were fighting in tibanna cloud formations."

"Agreed;" said Wedge, "the A-wing's sensor packages were very well suited to scrambling effects of the stuff. Anything else I need to know?"

"Yes;" said Calrissian, "if it comes to letting the Alliance have the gas or simply destroying it, the Empire will take the latter so move fast. When they start firing on the containers, your time table will constrict."

"Thanks;" said Wedge, his voice a growl but then he gave a feral smile. "You know what, Calrissian, why don't you join us on the mats when we get back? We do hand-to-hand combat training with Lieutenant Page. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we invited you along."

Calrissian looked like he was beginning to sweat. "Kind of you to offer but..."

"Good;" said Wedge. "We'll look forward to it."

* * *

 **The Gas Giant of Bespin - Cloud City**

As the transports and fighters dropped into orbit, the more senior members of Rogue Squadron, those who had been around since the rogue Imperial Moff Kohl Seerdon's war on them, were uneasy. Over the squadron's frequency, Wedge called out, "Calibrate your scanners to 7-mark-9. This is going to be just like Talaraan - except this time, we need to be sure that none of the containers are destroyed. Dido with the transports. Rogue Two, Rogue Four, you're with me. We're going to stay nice and close. The rest of you, fan out a little more. Intercept and eliminate any incoming TIE squadrons. Don't be shy about taking out those gun platform balloons either."

They acknowledged and broke off. Wedge wasn't really worried about the enemy fighters. The most immediate problem was definitely the gun balloons. Each one had a half a dozen anti-air weapons on them. If Wedge and the others had been in X-wings, things would have been far more difficult. Luckily, they were in A-wings and the smaller, more compact fighters allowed them to zip in between the cables that tethered the balloons and fuel containers to the gun platform. It was all too easy to elevate the laser cannons just enough to blow the fuel containers without even changing flight pattern. It took no time at all to eliminate the balloons surrounding the first of the platforms.

Wedge hoped that, considering that Rogue Squadron traditionally flew X-wings with red markings on the s-foils, not to mention dozens of small TIE's of various kinds painted on the fuselage to represent their kills, the Empire wouldn't bulk and start destroying the containers outright. He also hoped that they would be slow to respond with their full force since it was a half a dozen medium transports and a dozen A-wings making the raid. With any luck, the Imperials would be overconfident at first.

Initially, that seemed to be the case too. Reports came in that a squadron of TIE Fighters or TIE Interceptors were engaging them but it never ended up being much of a problem for the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron. None got through. "Geesh;" muttered Wedge after the forth such report. "This garrison was bigger than we expected. Thanks a lot, Calrissian."

"Now, now;" chuckled Karie, "nothing to be done about it now. If Calrissian left in as much a hurry as he claims, he probably didn't have much time to count starships."

Wedge scowled slightly. He didn't want to agree with her but it made sense. "Point;" he finally muttered.

His attitude towards Calrissian seemed to amuse her greatly. Wedge's comlinked clicked, bringing him back to the moment. "Rogue Leader, this is Transport 1: we've emptied these containers and are moving on to the next ones."

"Roger that, Transport 1. Forming on your starboard side;" replied Wedge, a tight smile crossing his lips. One down.

They skies of Bespin were beginning to get crowded as they headed to the next storage container platform. More and more TIE's continued to arrive to reinforce their brethren. "Where are they all coming from?" murmured Wedge as he blasted one apart and spun away, narrowly avoiding being vaporized by another.

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Three, my long ranger scanners just picked up a pair of Light Escort Cruisers and a Quasar Fire-Class Fighter Carrier dropping out of hyperspace."

"Blast;" muttered Wedge before replying, "Rogues, I want you to identify the nearest container platforms. Protect them from any and all Imperial fighters. Calrissian said that they would destroy them sooner than let them fall into Rebel hands so lets make sure that the latter is their only option."

Eleven confirmations came over the comms and Wedge through a little more power to his weapons. As the transports eased up next to the next set of platforms, a dozen TIE's buzzed in and split off - some after the transports and some after the containers. "Alright, Rogue Two and Rogue Four, split off and make sure that none of the containers are lost. I'll take the ones after the transports."

He thanked the force for the speed and maneuverability of his A-wing. With it, he was able to blaze and blast through the standard TIE Fighters. As he fought them, one or two broke off and tried to circle around, only to find their wingmen destroyed and Wedge zipping towards them from another direction. From his helmet speaker, Wedge heard Karie Neth mutter, "Geez, these things are too fast! Gotta be careful or I'll run into something."

Wedge chuckled as he angled around and lined up a shot on another TIE. "Don't do that! We need you up here, Karie."

With one final trigger squeeze, the last two TIE's exploded into dust and fell towards the planet below. "Status Report, Rogue Squadron."

They all came back as alive and well with the vast majority of the containers surviving the engagements. "Keep it up, Rogues. Send me reports as your situations change."

The battle was intense. It seemed that fresh TIE's continued to arrive even as the Rogues destroyed them. Every now and again, one of the Rogues will call out 'clear' and 'incoming' over their comms. Often the same pilot would say the former less than a minute before saying the latter. Where the TIE's were coming from didn't make any sense. A standard garrison had maybe three squadrons and a single carrier cruiser only carried for.

Keying in the frequency for Wes Janson, he said, "Rogue Five, head on up and get me a scan. See if there is any indication where all these fighters are coming from."

"On it, Boss;" came the reply.

It was only a couple minutes before he came back and said, "There are Two carriers up here and a half a dozen Light Escort Cruisers, Rogue Leader!"

Wedge grimaced, "Rejoin your group, Rogue Five."

If there were so many Imperial ships above, why weren't they just shelling the platforms from orbit - or even coming down and taking them out inside the planet's atmosphere? Maybe the Imperials wanted the platforms in tact despite what Calrissian said, yet another reason to think even less of the man.

"Rogue Leader, this is Transport 1 - we're clear and heading to the next platform."

"Copy that, Transport 1;" replied Wedge. "Rogue Two and Rogue Four, form on me again."

Wedge was pleased to see that three of his pilots were flying frantically around and trying to eliminate any incoming TIE's at the next platforms. There were two within a few dozen meters of one another. "Way to go Rogues;" said Wedge. "Now, you three go to the next platform. We'll take it from here."

With three acknowledgements, the three A-wings zipped off.

The Rogues buzzed around as the transports continued to fill from the platforms. Those two and the next two were dicey and rather stressful for the Rebel pilots. As they approached the last cluster of platforms, the captain of Transport 1 said, "We're almost completely full, Rogue Leader. We might not even be able to drain these last platforms."

Seeing the situation ahead, Wedge replied, "Good, because there is no way that all of those containers are surviving this."

Bombers were sweeping in to destroy the platforms completely and gun platform balloons were angling to fire on the container platforms. To make matters worse, the last platforms were almost directly over Cloud City and the Empire had laser cannons firing into the sky, targeting the transports and the Rogues. "Listen up, Rogues, I need you to target those bombers and gun platform balloons;" said Wedge as he angled down towards the city. "I'm going to target the power generators to those guns."

Over his private frequency, Karie Neth contacted him. "Wedge, that's insane! You'll be pulverized!"

"I'll be fine. As soon as I'm flying among the towers, fewer of them will be able to hit me. I'm already tracing where their power sources are. I'll be able to take them out and then the guns won't fire."

He ignored her protests as he dove, spinning, bobbing and weaving to avoid the anti-air fire. He took several hard dings and was about to tell his astro droid to start working on it until he remembered that he was in an A-wing and did not have one.

Finally, he was below the majority of the fire and began to slow down, weaving expertly between the spires and towards of Cloud City, following his sensors to the first power source. It wasn't hard to find. When the Imperials took over a city, they weren't exactly discrete about where they put their weapons' power sources. Two concussion missiles more than did the job. Above, Derek 'Hobbie" Klivian said, "Some of the cannons ceased fire, Rogue Leader. Hurry up! We need your help up here."

"On it;" said Wedge through gritted teeth as he wove between buildings. Suddenly, two Cloud Cars were on his port and starboard and just slightly behind.

"What the Hell!" muttered Wedge.

They broke off suddenly and Wedge noticed that a pair of TIE's were on him - until the Cloud Cars blew them away.

"Alright!" he said with a grin.

He come upon the second generator and blew it away. Over a general Alliance frequency, an unfamiliar voice was heard. "Rebel Pilot, the last generator is over by the security tower. We'll watch your six while you take it out. Frankly, the Bespin Wing Guard is blasted tired of these Imperials and their heavy handed oppression."

Over that frequency, Wedge replied, "Much obliged, Sir. We'll do what we can but I hope you realize that this isn't our big move to save you from the Empire. We just need top procure the gas they're trying to steal."

"You can have it and welcome;" came the reply, "and don't worry. We were fired and had to steal these to get up here. The rest of Cloud City won't suffer after they execute us."

Wedge didn't know how to respond to that. These men were knowingly signing their own execution orders. "I don't know what to say. Just know that this tibanna gas is going towards the final destruction of the Empire."

"Of course. Time to break off now, Sir. TIE's coming in from rear and starboard. May the force be with you, Rebel."

Wedge gritted his teeth as he came to the lase generator and blew it away. Instantly, he pulled up and angled skyward, blasting every Imperial ship that was even slightly in front of him. "What's the situation, Rogue Squadron?"

Tycho Celchu replied, "Our sensors just picked up an Imperial-class Star Destroyer dropping out of hyperspace."

"Copy that;"replied Wedge before switching to the transports' frequency. "What's the word, Transport One?"

"We're detaching and closing out now, Rogue Leader;" came the reply.

"Great! Just a few more minutes, Rogues. Keep those fighters and bombers off the transports while they make their escape. We just need to get them to the edge of the planet's mass shadow."

Whoops came over the comms and the Rogues seemed to be reinvigorated as the transports moved laterally across the skies and away from Cloud City, hoping to exit atmo far enough away that the slow transports could get to the right jump distance away from Bespin. It was a race. "Captain, put all of your power to your engines and we'll keep the fighters away."

"Wedge, the Imperial ships are trying to cut us off!" said Tycho.

Wedge cursed and, just for a moment, contemplated trying to slow down the Imperial ships but a dozen A-wings would do nothing to a Star Destroyer and six Light Escort cruisers. It was going to be tight. On an impulse, he called over all frequencies, "Pull up! All craft pull up and make straight for space!"

"Wedge!" yelled Karie in shock.

"Trust me! We can't out run them, so we'll out smart them! Ascend!"

All craft pulled upward and rose, fighting gravity as they did. They plowed through the clouds and the sky darkened around them until, suddenly, gravity gave way and they blazed into space - just as the Empire bore down upon them. Ion cannons fired and tractor beams were activated from the Star Destroyers. The Light Cruisers seemed to only be firing on the fighter pilots. "Rogues, attack the nearest tractor beams with the rest of your concussion missiles."

The fighters blazed through the storm of turbo laser fire and blasted the nearest tractor beam emitters before turning back. "Rogue Squadron, this is Transport 1 - we're making the jump. See you back at the rendezvous."

The Rogues gave a triumphant cry as, in twelve flickers of pseudo motion, the six transports filled to the brim with tibanna gas disappeared.

"Form up, Rogues!" called Wedge. "It's our turn!"

As soon as they were all clear, they were gone.

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

General Carlist Rieeken smiled proudly at Rogue Squadron. "You've done well, Rogues. We now have more than enough Tibanna gas for our mission to Endor. Shower up, rest up and get yourselves ready. Before the final confrontation, we have one more mission for you - probably the most important with exceptions of the attacks on the Death Stars."

Wedge crossed his arms over his orange flight suit. "Rogue Squadron it ready whenever you are ready to send us, General."

The others nodded in agreement, grim looks on their tired faces. The General smiled. "I know you are, Wedge, but there is one last component we need before we send you out. Now go. Get some food in you and get some rest. Relax and enjoy a little rest. You've earned it and, believe you me, you're going to need it. Dismissed."

The Rogues exited before Rieeken called, "Oh, and Commander;" Wedge, Tycho and Karie all turned to face him.

The general was grinning broadly, something that was not common for him. "Captain Calrissian is on assignment with Princess Leia and Commander Skywalker. He said to pass on his apologies for missing combat training with you and Lieutenant Paige."

Wedge, Tycho and Karie all chuckled. "That's too bad, Sir. I was looking forward to it."

As they left the briefing room, Wedge threw his arms around his two companions, for some absurd reason, in an excellent mood. "Come on, let's go shower and then eat. I'm starving and you two stink."

"We stink?" said Tycho in mock-outrage.

"I do no stink, Commander;" said Karie, her voice, faux-haughty. "I become aromatic the more I glisten. Besides, there is no way that I am showering with you."

"I never said that!" said Wedge indignantly.

"That's what I heard;" said Tycho casually.

With a glare, Wedge muttered, "Traitor."

All three of them laughed as they made it to their quarters section.


	10. Chapter 9: Assault on Fondor

**Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** ** _Home One_**

The Pilots of Rogue Squadron sat silently as they waited for the briefing to begin. This mission was going to prove to be one of the most important and risky they had taken on in a very long time. With the twelve pilots of Rogue Squadron were also the pilots from Gold Squadron and via holo-communications, the captain and principle officers of a assault frigate and those of several Corellian Corvettes and Gunships as well. There was an air of grim determination and not even Wes Jansen joked or even said anything.

Finally, General Carlist Rieeken and, to everyone's surprise, Mon Mothma herself, entered the room. After studying the gathered Rebels, she said, "After much information and resource gathering, we are finally prepared to eliminate an Imperial weapon before it can ever be utilized. At the shipyards of Fondor, an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought is currently under construction. The emergence and deployment of these Super Star Destroyers are bad enough but this particular model is being fitted with a series of high tech cloaking devices. Such a ship would be able to drop in on our fleets and bases and rain destruction on them before we even have the chance to mobilize any defenses. Thanks to our allies in the Bothan Spy Network and many of our commando and intelligence units, we have obtained all necessary resources to launch this attack. General Rieeken;"

Mon Mothma stepped to the side and Rieeken stepped forward, activating a holo-projector. The image of an Star Dreadnought appeared. "Here, here and here are the locations of the three cloaking field generators. Once you get to the dreadnought, they will be your first targets. After them, you will target the main reactor. Now, everything I have just mentioned is the second stage of the operation. The first, I'm afraid, is far more tricky."

The image changed, showing a section of the Fondor ship yards. It showed an energy shield and a shield array emitter where the shield gate opened for cargo shuttles and such would go through. "Using a requisitioned storm commando clearance code and TIE Hunters, Rogue Squadron will be escorting a transport that they will say has been captured and is filled with ordnance. Once they are inside the shield perimeter, Gold Squadron will arrive with X-wings to hold your escape with the assistance of an assault frigate their escort. Rogue Squadron will eliminate the cloaking devices, the bridge and then the main reactor. From there, you'll retreat and get back here. Any questions?"

None were forth-coming and General Rieeken said, "Spend the next few hours in the TIE Fighter simulators. It's imperative that you get very comfortable with their controls. As soon as everything is fully prepared, you will be on your way to Fondor."

* * *

Wedge had flown a few of the TIE series fighters before. In his opinion, they were too fast and jerky and their sticks tended to be overly sensitive. Not only that but they were unshielded, lightly armored and poorly armed. The few advantageous they had were that they were fast, cheap and very maneuverable. And of course, over the past couple years, there were several different kinds of TIE Fighters. Aside from the standard TIE Fighter and the TIE Bomber, there was also the very fast TIE Interceptor. There was the Advanced x1 TIE Fighter, usually the personal fighters of high ranking individuals such as Darth Vader or Moff Kohl Seerdon. And then, of course, there were the TIE Hunters - fighters assigned expressly to Storm commando divisions. They were supposed to have all the maneuverability and speed of a standard TIE craft but with the armor, shields, hyperspace capabilities and fire power of an X-wing.

After almost three hours in the simulators, Wedge climbed out and stretched. The others began to do the same, pulling off their helmets and rubbing their eyes and heads and shaking out their cramped legs. None of them wanted to leave the simulation room, know that the call could come at any minute. At the same time, they were getting hungry.

Wedge looked over his pilots and sighed. "Gather around, Rogues."

When they were all there, Wedge said, "We're going to head to the hanger where our fighters are gong to be waiting. There, you might as well get comfortable. We could be there awhile. Grab a ration bar too. It's not very fun but it's better than nothing."

With yawns and grumbles, they all headed out, complaining about waiting for the mission to finally begin. Fortunately, they only had another ten minutes to wait before the call came over the intercom. "All pilots report to your ships. All pilots report to your ships."

Rogue Squadron whooped and climbed into their TIE Hunters and carefully filed out of the hanger. The transport was waiting for them. "Alright, Rogue group;" said the pilot of the transport. "It's just me in here so let's please stay close and sell this thoroughly, shall we."

"Copy that, Transport;" chuckled Wedge. "We'll take you right into the jaws of the beast."

"Why thank you;" the pilot said back, his voice almost jovial despite the dire circumstances. In truth, his cheerfulness lifted Wedge's spirits quite a bit. Chuckling, he changed over to Rogue Squadron's comms frequency and said, "Alright, Rogue Group, let's take it nice and easy. Form up and get ready to make the jump. Once we get there, it's all about channeling your inner Imperial and flying in a perfect escort formation."

That gained him a few snorts of amusement as they tightened up. The nice thing about Imperial fighter formations was they they were easy to mimic. None of them were overly complicated and none of them required exceptional skill to maintain. As soon as they were set, Wedge called out, "Alright, Rogues - proceeding with the count down."

Ten seconds later, the stars turned to lines and then to the blue tunnel of hyperspace.

* * *

 **Fondor - The Sienar Fleet Systems' Classified Pr** **ojects** **' Dry Docks**

As soon as they reverted back to real space, the Rogues formed perfectly into an Imperial TIE defensive escort formation as they approached. Using a device for the purpose, Wedge commed the shield gate control station in the voice of a pilot wearing a TIE Fighter's helmet. At first, there was no response at all. After repeating his message three times, Wedge noticed the two Imperial Escort Carriers and the squadrons of TIE Hunters approaching from port and starboard. "Oh blast;" mutter Wedge before flipping over to the Rogues' private channel again. "Get ready, Rogues, cause I think we've been made."

Unfortunately, he was all too correct. Immediately, the carriers opened fire on the transport while the TIE Hunters buzzed around and engaged them. "Damn it!" cursed Wedge. "Get outta here Transport, we'll cover your retreat."

"That wasn't the plan, Rogue Leader."

Wedge was almost speechless. "I'm pretty sure the plan's been compromised, Transport!"

"Oh the primary plan has been, yes. Fortunately, I made a secondary plan, just in case the first one didn't work out. Just hold a little while longer and arm your ion cannons, Rogue Leader. In just a moment, you might need them to knock out the shield gate."

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Wedge.

But even as he asked, he realized what the pilot was talking about. At full speed, the transport was driving straight for a point just below the shield control center. If Wedge were to hazard a guess, that was where the power source for the shield gate itself was house. "Transport, pull up! Do you copy? Pull up!"

"Good luck, Rogue Leader, and may the force be with you."

The transport slammed full boar into the structure - and exploded in spectacular fashion! As the debris floated through space, Wedge saw the the pilot had been correct. There, exposed to him, was the power core for the shield gate. It was still surrounded by ray and particle shields but a few good blasts from the ion cannon should expose it for a pair of proton torpedoes.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Wedge fired three salvos of ion blasts while he said into the comms, "Get ready Rogues! I'm about to open the gates. Rogue Two, radio the reinforcements."

They acknowledge as Wedge fired his torpedoes and the power exploded, shredding the control center above it as well. Just then, Gold Squadron and the other Alliance ships dropped out of hyperspace and engaged the two Escort Carriers and the TIE's. "Alright, Rogues," said Wedge, "we're going in and we're going in full throttle - right along the ships dorsal hull. Keep even spacing and stay in pairs. Keep your torpedoes ready."

The one wonderful thing about ships the size of an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought is what both Alliance and Imperial strategist call "Trench Run Disease". It was the inherent weakness in massive capital ships and stations where the gaps in their defenses were large enough that a single snubfighter could penetrate. The term was coined after the Death Star over Yavin and the Rebels had used it to great effect while defending against it by using more rounded ships such as Mon Calamari Star Cruisers with weapons blisters that activated when a fighter got too close.

Wedge gritted his teeth and every muscle in his body was clenched, ready to wheel, twist and turn as the terrain of the dreadnought required. Whenever a active battery came in sight, he and Karie, who had paired with him, tried to clear it out for the following Rogues. For the most part, they were successful. It wasn't too long before they came to the first cloaking field generator. "Alright, Rogue Five;" he said to Karie over her private line, "two torpedoes should take care of it and if not, the others will finish it off."

"Copy that, Rogue Leader;" replied Karie, and they squeezed their triggers.

Four torpedoes slammed into the stealth field generator which, to their surprise, didn't explode. "Blast! Rogue Two, Rogue Three - we didn't finish it off. We're gonna need your help."

"You got it, Rogue Leader;" came the reply.

"Report when it's destroyed;" said Wedge as he continued to scream over the ship.

The dreadnought had massive gaps in its hull and at least some of the defenses had to be completely automated because, in many cases, there wasn't even a way to get into the operating or fire control centers for the turbo laser cannons or turrets. Either way, Wedge and Karie were low enough that none of the towers could accurately line up a shot - though that fact sure didn't keep them from trying. Heavy Fire sprayed around them but the TIE's shielding an maneuverability held them in good stead against it. At some point, Tycho contacted him confirming that the first stealth field generator was destroyed but Wedge was too busy avoiding death by fire or collision to do more than give a cursory acknowledgement.

Finally, they came to the second cloaking field generator. Again, they launched a pair of torpedoes each, this time aiming for the base of the structure. Again, it wasn't enough to destroy the machine. "You'll need to finish it off again, Rogues Two and Three."

"Copy that, Boss."

As they continued to careen through the trenches and canyons of the super star destroyer, a call came from outside the shield perimeter. "Rogue Leader, this is the Assault Frigate _Worthy Cause_ \- an Imperial Star Destroyer has just dropped out of hyperspace. We've taken out the two escort carriers and are holding the TIE's but I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to once the newcomer engages."

Wedge gritted his teeth. He wished fervently that Luke Skywalker, with all of his Jedi skill and natural piloting ability, was there to assist them. Unfortunately Luke was still off on assignment with Princess Leia Organa and the smooth talking gambler, Lando Calrissian. Rumor had it that they were looking to rescue Han Solo from a bounty hunter or something but whatever the case, Wedge could have used Luke's help.

With a mental shake, Wedge brought himself back to focus just in time to avoid running headlong into a XX-10 Turbolaser tower.

The closer they got to the command tower and bridge, the more completed everything looked. Suddenly, Karie's strained voice came over her private frequency. "How exactly are we going to get to this thing's main reactor?"

"We'll worry about that when we get to it, Karie;" he said. "Right now, we need to finish off these cloaking devices."

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Ten - I don't know how this dreadnought's been wired but it's already beginning to go critical! The destruction of the cloaking devices is beginning to destabilize the entire power regulation system. If we take out the command tower too, they won't have any way of bring it back under control and this monstrosity should go up without us even getting near the main reactor."

Wedge frowned and said, "Acknowledged, Rogue Ten. Keep an eye on those readings and keep me informed. I really don't feel like going out in a blaze of glory with this thing today."

"Copy that, Rogue Leader."

Over her private frequency, Karie murmured, "Well that answered that question."

"Maybe so. Stay sharp. We're coming up on the last generator. Two more torpedoes each and then I'm down to four. What's your ordnance status, Rogue Three?"

"I'll still have six. Do you think ten will be enough to take out the control stations in the command tower?"

Wedge chuckled. "We don't just have our torpedoes. The other Rogues will be right behind us and I'm pretty sure most of them haven't even used any of theirs yet."

"Good point;" replied Karie as they came in sight of the third and final cloaking field generator and squeezed off their torpedoes.

As before, they weren't enough to destroy the generator and Wedge let Tycho know before saying, "Rogue Squadron, we're heading for the command tower next. Hopefully if we do enough damage to it, they won't be able to avoid the chain reaction caused by the destruction of the three cloaking field generators."

They all acknowledged and Wedge and Karie continued to navigate their way towards the bridge. In the section they were in now, everything looked almost complete. There were no gaps in the hull or superstructure or exposed power sources or cables for the turrets, batteries or sensors. Suddenly, all enemy fire ceased and Wedge felt an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu from the attack on the Death Star. The guns had all stopped firing just before the Imperial TIE's had engaged them. "Get ready, Rogue Three;" he murmured to Karie, "we have enemy fighters coming in from -" and he checked his scopes, "point eight."

"Roger that. There are only three. I'll sweep out and clear them. You stay on task."

Before Wedge could object, she broke off to engage the oncoming TIE's. He gritted his teeth and dared to put just a little more power into the engines. The command tower was far away now and he switched over to his targeting computer. "Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Two, we just finished off the last generator. The reactor is just a nudge away from going critical."

"Copy that, Rogue Two;" said Wedge. "You and your wingman stay with me. The rest of you, I want to break off and get back to the battle. As soon as we join you, we're getting out of here."

Though they were clearly unhappy about it, the rest of Rogue Squadron broke off and began to make for the shield gate.

Wedge's primary target was the main bridge blister. He was mere moments away from being in range. Wedge held his breath as his trembling fingers waited on the trigger. He barely acknowledge that Karie had cleared his six and was back with him. As soon as his targeting computer signaled a lock, he squeezed the trigger twice, launching all four of his remaining proton torpedoes. In the peripherals of his vision, he saw on his scopes that Karie had launched her torpedoes at a different point, most likely a secondary control center or bridge. The ten warheads slammed into the command tower and that was the nudge that was too much for the main reactor. Immediately, Wedge's alarms began to blare, indicating the massive catastrophic failure of a nearby capital ship. "Alright Rogues;" said Wedge, "let's get outta here!"

They formed up and blazed away from the star dreadnought as quickly as their TIE Hunters would allow them. When the massive ship blew, Karie gave a whoop of delight. Wedge grinned ear to ear and said, "Alright, Rogue Squadron, let's collect our escort and get the hell out of here!"

"Rogue Leader, this is the _Worthy Cause_ \- you're timing couldn't have been better. If you had taken only a few minutes longer, we would have been pinned between a Star Destroyer and the shipyard's defensive shields."

As they came out of the shield gate, Wedge grinned as twelve X-wings and formed on them in an escort pattern. "Glad to hear we made it in time, _Worthy Cause_. Let's get outta here and back to the fleet. Mon Mothma and Rieeken are going to be ecstatic."

* * *

 **Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser _Home One_**

Rogue Squadron and Gold Squadron stood side by side in the main hanger of _Home One_ as the crew of the ship applauded and cheered. On a dais in the front of them stood Mon Mothma and Generals Rieeken and Madine. After allowing the cheering to go on for several minutes, Mon Mothma lifted a hand and silence descended. "You have done well, Rogue Squadron. You have assisted in the gathering of the necessary resources in preparation for the assault on the Empire's new Death Star but more importantly, you have eliminated an potentially even more destructive weapon - an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought with stealth capabilities. Such a weapon would be able to deliver a massive assault against any fleet or base before we even had the chance to prepare. Step onto the dais, pilots."

As they lined up in front of the Supreme Commander and founding member of the Rebel Alliance and, once at a time, she placed a medal around their necks, murmuring to each of them, "The Alliance thanks you for your exceptional service. You have earned this."

When all had their rewards, General Rieeken said, "About-face, pilots."

They did with military precision and the crew of Home One erupted into cheers and applause again.

* * *

An hour after the celebration had ended, Rogue Squadron was back in the briefing room. Generals Rieeken and Maidine looked grim and almost apologetic. "Take a seat, pilots. We have some news and we're afraid you aren't going to like it."

Wedge certainly _didn't_ like the sound of that. When they were all seated, Rieeken clasped his hands behind him and began a clearly rehearsed briefing. "The Emperor has made his final mistake and the time to strike at his new Death Star is nearly here. We have been reassigning personnel and resources throughout the entire organization and deploying various task forces and cells to attempt to scatter the Empire's military forces. All of this is in preparation for our strike over the forest moon of Endor. Over a hundred capital ships are being gathered along with all of their fighter compliments. In order to ensure that the vast experience and talent of Rogue Squadron is not isolated into one place, High Command has decided that a temporary disbandment of the squadron is necessary."

The entire squadron gasped and several of them cut themselves off in the middle of objections. "I know that you're a close nit group but this is necessary to ensure the best possible outcome. We will have dozens of fighter squadrons on this operation, some of them with very little experience and some without any at all. It will be your jobs to ensure that they get the training they need to prepare. You will have little enough time to prepare them as it is. When the battle is over, for good or for ill, Rogue Squadron will be reformed. I promise you that."

The Rogues still looked sullen and Wedge lifted his hands. "Will Commander Skywalker be assigned to a fighter squadron, Sir?"

"We don't know, Commander;" said Madine rather huffily. "Due to his status as a Jedi, Mon Mothma is giving him the decision as to where he might serve best."

Wedge nodded. Rieeken looked around some more before saying, "If there is nothing else, Rogues, go and pack your belongings. You will be reassigned and moving out tomorrow."

The Rogues stood and exited, heading silently back to their quarters. Before they could split off, Wedge called, "Tonight, we're having one final squadron meeting in the pilot ready room."

They all acknowledged gloomily.

* * *

They were all there when Wedge went into the ready room. The Rogues were silent. With a sigh, Wedge looked at Tycho and said, "Grab some of the good stuff, Tycho. Fill the glasses and pass them around."

When everyone had a glass in their hands, Wedge said, "On your feet, Rogues. Raise your glasses. This is something that Luke would do after a rough mission. Well since that last mission was our last mission for awhile as Rogue Squadron, I think it's worthy of this."

Wedge began to list the name of every pilot who ever served with Rogue Squadron and stated whether they died or reassigned. It was a long list. Quite a few pilots had served in Rogue Squadron and had either died or had moved on to other assignments. When he was finished, Wedge said, "Remember those names, Rogues. They are your history. This isn't the end of Rogue Squadron. We'll be back. In the mean time, spread your knowledge and share your experience. The Alliance will need us at our best for this, even if we aren't all together."

Looking around at one another, the Rogues smiled and clinked their glasses. Wedge smiled. "Now let's have one more rousing party before tomorrow."

With that, the Rogues cheered. They had one more night and they would make it a night to remember.


End file.
